Resident Evil 6: Ground Zero
by The Lady Frost
Summary: Revamped. In a sleepy little hamlet, an unlikely duo emerges. Together they just might be able to stop a madman, and save the world from destruction. If they can just make sure SHE does the driving. Leon's RE6 campaign reimagined. Cover Art: LoneWolf
1. Ground1

_+Author's note:_

 _So, this story is Resident Evil 6…sorta. Kinda. But not really. But kinda yeah. Ha. It's 6 with a twist. And operates in conjunction but with alternate universe additions. So it's kinda the same but slightly different. Why not? I can do whatever I want. Artistic license and all that. I do what I do when I do it. Totally awesome or utter shit if you don't like it. Completely up to the reader._

 _It's zombies and shit getting blown up and smut. So it was wicked fun to write. Anyone who reads my stuff knows I'm always working on ten different stories or something or nothing at all when the mood strikes. I got stalled on my other ones for a minute so I decided to work around on this guy for awhile. Could be totally great or fall apart completely. This lady loves her odd pairs after all. I keep sending Jill and Leon out together and I'll achieve awesome sauce with them and stall out. Darkened Sky is trying to kill me right now with research so I'm breaking my brain from it to work on this. This path, if it follows 6, is easier. It's kinda already preconstructed. So boom. Instant story._

 _This first chapter goes into setting up the love story. And finds its way to the outbreak. Once I munch on the action, I rarely slow down so it will just snowball. I like long chapters but I may split it to smaller ones so people can read it on the go like I do. Great? Or crappola?_

 _Only time will tell._

 _Slainte_

* * *

 **I'm with you, Mr. President**

 _Ivy University, Tall Oaks 2013_

* * *

"Bioterrorism is a global threat," Leaning on the desk in the plush and yet understated office of the Dean of Admissions, Adan Benford, otherwise known to the free world as the President of the United States, was addressing the other person in the room with him, "We need the world on our side here. We need to come together and address it. It's legion. It's destructive. It's worse, in some ways than any other kind of terrorism because it happens behind closed doors. It happens in our backyards. It happens while we think we're making cures. If we don't get the rest of the world on board? We're facing an extinction event here. And soon."

He picked up the two fingers of Remy Martin in the prism like high ball glass on the mahogany desk. He turned, looking out the window and down into the courtyard where college kids played and laughed and lived in the perfect spill of golden sunlight. It was pristine, this college, his alma mater. It had created a man who would become a judge and who would be elected to the highest office in the land. This college that would create a President. It was pristine. How could he keep it that way? Could he protect it? Knowing what he knew, knowing how deep the ties that bound were to the darkness on the other side? Could he protect anything when the terrorist were in his own inner circle?

He knew, he knew and so did the other man in the room, they knew that someone was dirty. They knew someone was selling secrets and working against them. They knew the threat of contamination was wide spread. They couldn't run down the stench of decay and rot yet, not yet, but it started by enlisting the rest of the world to help police it. And help? It came with a price.

That price was the truth.

"The only way to get the world with us? Is to come clean." He turned back to face the other man across from him. Friends. He'd seen the boy grow to be a man. They'd stood across from each other and laughed and shared humor and friendship and loyalty. He stood across from him now and felt that unwavering respect and dedication. And it humbled him. "We have to tell the world about Raccoon City."

The other man in the room, shifted, feeling the shiver of that remark down his spine. "Be sure, Adam. Be absolutely sure. If we open this door? We can't close it again. It's done. There are no more secrets, no more cover ups, and no more executive orders to excuse what happened there."

"I wasn't the president when it happened. But I knew what I was getting into when I took this office. I know how bad it will get. There is no excuse for how it went down. Less so for the coward that pulled the trigger on sanitizing it. And even less for the conspiracy that is still infecting the world because of it. I want it done. I want it over. If it means I take the fall for it? So be it. If it means you finally get to retire and give up the fight? I'm ok with that too."

"Whatever you decide? I'm with you, Mr. President. Always."

Adam Benford smiled and they shook hands. The boy who was now the man who had the ear of the most powerful man in the world had stood in the ashes of that burning city and been born in blood that day all those years ago. He'd been a wet behind the ears rookie cop with one whole day of experience. He was now in command of one of the strongest agencies in the known world when it came to bioterrorism. He was there, in Tall Oaks, as a courtesy to the man who'd once changed his diapers and was now the leader of the free world.

He'd been a rookie once. Now he was simply a friend. And both? Both were Leon Kennedy.

"I've always valued your friendship, Leon. You know that. I'm going to get ready to give the biggest speech of my entire life. Let's see how that friendship holds up against the scrutiny of the entire world."

"Mr. President, my loyalty is bullet proof. I promise you."

"Well go get a drink and relax. In twenty four hours? We're going to either change the world or bring it down around our ears."

* * *

The sleepy little college town of Tall Oaks was pleasant and quaint and reminded one of what Sleepy Hollow might have looked like when Icabod Crane had made his legendary dash from the Headless Horsemen. It was lined with rows and rows of shops and classic architecture that harkened back to an easier time where one could go to the local hardware store, stop in a café, and window shop the local vendors on a lazy, sunny day. It was missing the stamp of commerce that was Starbucks and Walmart and "the man". The town square was pretty and encompassed multiple city blocks of private shop owners peddling their handmade and personal wears.

College kids moved through the streets, eating handmade ice cream cones and carrying little bags etched with local flair. He sat in the wrought iron chair outside on the patio of the local café, sipping three fingers of scotch. He wondered if he'd ever been young enough to just run around laughing and kissing on the sidewalk while the breeze played with his hair.

He had been, once, and Adam was offering the chance to get that back. Retire, he'd said, and it was an interesting concept. He was thirty-five, successful, handsome and articulate. He had a good sense of humor, a nearly genius level IQ, and plenty of skills cultivated through years of training and dedication. What came after this?

What happened when he put down the sword?

Leon Kennedy tapped his chin with his finger and considered. Maybe children? Marriage? What about the concept of simply becoming a political animal? He'd make a helluva president. He had the money, the connections, the prestige. He could do it. Hell, he even had the NAME for it.

With the rest of the world on their side, could they eradicate bioterrorism? Could they finally, finally, finally put the T-virus in its ugly coffin and bury it with the bodies it had created all these years? That would be a mass grave, to be sure, since it had stuck its infected fingers into a thousand pies since it was created in a dirty lab under a dying city. It had spawned ugly children and been bought and sold and thrown down on cities and towns and airports and used as a weapon against the innocent.

Was there an end to it? And what came next?

Out loud he said, "Vacation."

And THAT? That sounded like Nirvana.

He studied a pretty college girl eyeing him from across the street. He lifted a brow. She giggled and waved. He chuckled a little and gestured with his glass.

Tempting. He liked a good uncomplicated fuck as much as the next guy. But since the chances were she was more than a decade younger than him, he was also not interested. If he was old enough to be her father, he was going to stay clear of shitting in that proverbial wasteland of drama and late night phone calls filled with angst and regret. No. Fucking. Thank you.

Objectively, he was a handsome man. He always had been. He wore designer clothes like some men wore jeans. He made it seem natural and easy. His face had survived the barrage of fighting, bleeding, and multiple runs for his life that had peppered his career and was still mostly unlined and aging well. He was dirty blonde and rocking the shaggy hair that had been with him for nearly twenty years. It was longer now and less controlled but it suited the age of his face. He was honed and physically fit to the point of being fast and capable in battle.

He was a warrior. What did he do when he put down the sword?

"Mr. Kennedy, your reputation proceeds you."

He glanced up and was interested. Just like that. No young college girl giggling this was a woman. And a fascinating creature. The sunlight haloed her enchanting presence in a way that was literary, literal, and lasting. Boom. Instant attraction. The sunny sidewalk in the sleep hamlet was now a place of persual and interest.

Click.

He put his hand out to shake hers.

She was beautiful. Probably the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. She had pale blonde hair in a sleepy ponytail down her back and big blue eyes surrounded by intense lashes. She was in a snug little pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt that dipped enough on the perfect temptation of those breasts she was sporting to make him interested in seeing what was under it. Likely, based on the show already happening, it was as beautiful and beguiling as that face.

"I'm afraid you've got me at a loss here. You are?"

"Jill Valentine. I'm here as an ambassador for the BSAA. Apparently, the President put out a call for the agencies in our mutual community to be present for his speech tonight."

Ah. And ahhhh, he thought with wry amusement. He gestured to the seat across from him. Because in about two seconds flat he'd known he was going to ask her to join him.

She settled across from him and met his eyes. He swirled his drink in the glass, looking at her. She ordered a vodka, neat, and earned a grudging nod. No flashy girly drinks here. This woman knew what good liquor was.

The little college girl was still trying to get his attention but she'd lost it completely now. In a simple t-shirt and jeans, this woman had stolen all of it. The face was killer with perfect bone structure and a little cleft in her chin that was clearly made for stroking with your thumb. It took him about three seconds to determine he was kinda looking at the answer to what came next after the bioterrorism game was over. Maybe not her, not exactly, but this. Lunch in the sun with a beautiful woman. Sounded pretty fucking great.

"Ms. Valentine, I'm actually staggered that we've never met before. How often have we, almost literally, run parallel without coming face to face?"

Jill laughed, amused with him, "It's almost like the universe was trying to keep us apart."

"Without question. Why, I wonder?"

Right off the top of her head, she was going to say it was because he looked like something you tried to chase around with your hands made into claws attempting to grab his ass. Handsome, she'd heard, what a crock of shit. He was a sex kabob in thousand dollar boots. That sexy little half smile on his face was probably what the little girls across the street were giggling about.

Jill said, "Presumably because the world couldn't contain both of us in the same space and time without imploding."

Leon laughed and sipped his scotch. "Presumably. Although let's be fair. The explosion is clearly happening on that side of the table."

"You think huh?"

"Oh definitely. You're aware, I'm sure, what you look like."

Interested, she studied his face. Her vodka arrived and had a little lime wedge in it. She pulled it free and put it between her lips to suckle it.

Click. He watched her mouth. And his sexy little half smile was a full smile now. He said, saluting her with his glass, "I rest my case."

"Mr. Kennedy, you're aware, I'm sure, that you have a certain….reputation amongst our profession."

"Do I? Enlighten me."

"You flirt with anything in a skirt. You are notorious for it."

"Ah. Yeah. THAT reputation. I do enjoy the company of beautiful women, this is true," He studied her again and she liked it. She liked that intelligence on his face, "But you're not wearing a skirt and I wasn't even aware we were flirting."

"We're not."

"Would you like to?"

And now she laughed a little; charmed. "Why not? Hit me with your best shot."

He considered and struck up a cigarette. She took one and they shared the inky smoke of it while college kids laughed and shoved and joked around them. He said, almost casually, "I've been in this town for three days."

"Yeah?"

"Mmm yep. You're the first thing I've seen that makes me excited to be here."

Jill tilted her head, watching him. "Really? I heard they have a pretty great coffee house down the road. And this diner is said to have great chicken fried steak."

He flicked the cigarette and gave her that smile again. "That's likely true. But I'm guessing neither tastes as good as you do."

She liked that. Casual. Sexy. And very direct. He watched her shift toward him a little. Click.

"I am one of a kind," Jill agreed, "It's true. But it's said you are as well."

"Hmm. I'm not anything but a guy having a scotch and a cigarette with a legend."

"I think legend might be pushing it." She laughed now and sipped her drink.

"Possibly. I hear that you're deadly with a knife."

"That is actually true. But I hear the same about you."

"I do alright," Leon rolled the glass in his hand and sipped it, "I generally enjoy a nice rousing fight. Keeps the blood pumping."

"Oh I agree," And she laughed again, "It's what keeps us in the game right? The thrill of it. The rush. The risk."

"Without question," He took a long drag off the cigarette, "Hardly anything else in the world like it."

"Agreed. The rumors say you're the best in the world."

"Do they?" He leaned a little toward her, "Try me."

She lifted her brows at him. He held her look.

"Are you offering to fight me, Leon Kennedy?"

"Hmm. Maybe. Want to find out if the rumors are true?"

"Is there a woman alive that says no to that?"

"Probably."

"She's a fucking idiot."

He laughed and was a little in love with her.

She'd come to Tall Oaks pissed off. She didn't want to be here. She was often side lined to shitty submissions while Chris ran around the world blowing shit up and kicking asses. He was a fucking mess though and usually drunk and on his face in random places. He'd resigned in January and was impossible to locate. He'd had a mission go bad and lost all his men but one. He wasn't handling it well. She was trying to hold the BSAA together in his absence but it was wearing on her.

He'd been slated to be here to sit in on the President's speech. Instead? She was here. She'd hated it the moment she arrived. It reminded her of Raccoon City. Same little shops, same small town feel, same outdated décor…and apparently the same survivors.

But she was rapidly learning to be very, very ok with that. She'd listen to Chris bitch about Leon Kennedy for years. In paralleling fields, they'd come up against each other in various ways. First when Kennedy had been working for USSTRATCOM and often popping up in locations where viral outbreaks were rampant. And also at conferences, lectures, and coordinating events regarding anything pertaining advancement in the bioterrorism community. Although there appeared to be a grudging respect there, she always sensed an underlying jealousy from her best friend in the world regarding the other man.

She'd blown it off as typical male cock measuring until now. Maybe this was why. Leon Kennedy was catnip for skanks, clearly. Even now she could hear the little college girls giggling. He was cocky, sort of aloof, and had the goods to back it up. He was also charming, articulate, and a fantastic dresser. Fashion meets bad ass agent. The eternal enigma.

"Is it the face or the cocky attitude that usually gets you into the panties, Mr. Kennedy?"

Leon laughed, shrugging a little. "I'd hazard a guess it's both."

"Hmm. I'm afraid I'm not a simpering little college girl so you might be wasting your time coming on so strong."

"Might?"

"I haven't decided entirely yet. Which we will blame ENTIRELY on your face."

"Oh yeah?"

"It's a fucking killer face." She sipped the vodka and laughed a little.

"Here I was just thinking the same thing."

"It's a little narcissistic to think about your own face that much, Leon Kennedy."

And he knew he kinda liked her a lot. She was gorgeous but that wasn't it. It was this casual grace and her sense of humor that did it. You liked the face, you wanted the face, oh yeah, but it wasn't what would keep you. It was what was behind that face.

That was the real killer here.

She didn't need a knife to kill you. She slayed just by opening her mouth.

"So maybe we take a walk and we both think about your face instead."

Jill tilted her head at him, "Interesting. Why are we both thinking about my face?"

He gauged her interest and took a shot. "Well, for instance, we can both think about how your face would look when I slip inside you. Personally? I'm a little obsessed with that image. I've seen the sunset in Venice and I doubt, seriously, that it would be nearly as beautiful as that moment."

Oh. She held his eyes now. And he watched it happen. He watched the moment it rolled behind her eyes. And she lifted her mouth in a smile.

"Clever boy."

"Hmm. That's what they tell me."

They sipped their drinks, watching each other. She liked it. He liked it. It was casual and sexy and simple. It was a good day. Hard to imagine it not being a good day.

Jill rose and tossed some money on the table. "Let's take a walk, Leon Kennedy."

And so they did. They walked around that sleepy little hamlet. They walked around talking. They walked around laughing. They'd, literally, been in Raccoon City at the same time all those years ago. He was under the city, sure, and she above it but they'd been there. They'd survived it. And never met.

They'd both run around the world for years fighting the results of that awful night. And they'd never met. They worked in nearly identical fields and crossed within inches of each other a thousand times. And they'd never met.

But here they were, hanging out in a small town in middle America, having a fantastic cup of coffee and enjoying each other. Jill owed Chris an apology for all the filthy names she'd been calling him lately. He'd done her a favor by flaking out on coming to the university for the speech.

"You're telling me," He said conversationally as they toured the little botanical gardens at the edge of the square, "that you have never once done it?"

"Nope. Never. Not once."

"Well…we're doing it."

"What?"

"We're doing it right now, Jill Valentine."

"Noooo. You're insane. Now?"

"Oh yeah. Now." And he grabbed her hand. She had to laugh as they ran across the small street and ducked between two buildings. She was still laughing as he forced her to keep time with him and dragged her to the bridge that crossed the little river that snaked through town and kept the sewers beneath so disgusting and moist.

"I can't do it!" She cried as she he forced her to the end of the bridge, "I'll pee myself!"

"Oh, you're doing it!"

And ten minutes later they were doing it alright. But it wasn't naked and sweaty. It was sweaty, yes it was, but it wasn't naked. They were crushed together, this was true, but they were upside down and bobbing crazily above the water while they did it. And so, Leon Kennedy became the first man to go bungee jumping with Jill Valentine.

And she shouted, "This is either the most awful feeling I've ever had or the most awesome!"

He laughed and made her lose her breath laughing at how ridiculous he looked with that iconic hair of his sticking straight up…or kinda hanging straight down…whichever. "Right?" He studied her face from so close, "But kinda great."

"Yeah…it's kinda great." She meant his face. But the bungee jumping was kinda great too.

Aloof, she speculated, not exactly. Yes and no. He was both. He was aloof and cocky and hilarious. He was all good humor. He'd done nothing but make her laugh in the last few hours. He was…kinda great.

She laughed now, holding on to him, "What now?"

"Well…we might want to be right side up soon before our heads explode from the blood rush."

"An interesting image. Do you have blood rushing to your head, Leon Kennedy?"

She met his eyes and starting laughing. His sardonic expression was pretty great too. She wiggled a little. "Which head?" He speculated and had her laughing.

She wiggled again.

"Whoa…whoa. Whatcha doin there?"

"Seeing if you have blood rushing to other places."

"We can safely say the answer is yes. Yes. Yes I do."

She was laughing. She was still laughing when he kissed her. She wasn't laughing anymore when her hands came up and held his face. It was, officially, the best non-date ever. And the first time a man had ever kissed her upside down. So bonus.

They walked back toward the campus together and she thought…fuck it. And slid her hand into his. He didn't just take it, nope, he slid their fingers together.

Click.

She said as they walked and people milled around him, "Where did you come from?"

"Connecticut. Originally."

And now she turned and she looked at his face. Aloof. No. Not even a little. She'd heard that about him. That he was funny. She hadn't had any idea how funny.

"Oh yeah?"

"Before that? I think I was a zygote. Maybe. But those memories get a little cloudy."

"You're a funny guy, Leon Kennedy."

"So they tell me. Though it's hit or miss. Some people don't get my humor."

"Some people don't get the purpose of a good pun either." She grabbed two handfuls of the black shirt he was wearing and pushed him into the alley beside the college. He grunted as she pushed him against the wall there, "Some people are stupid."

"Agreed."

"I'm going to kiss you now."

"Awesome." He was laughing as she went up on her tiptoes. And then his arms moved, looped around her and pulled her off the ground. Her feet dangled and her head went POP! It was hanging upside down all over again but this time the blood rush killed her where she dangled.

And so, Jill Valentine found herself groping Leon Kennedy in an alleyway near the university where she'd come to listen to the president give a speech about bioterrorism. It was an odd day even for her. And the best day ever.

Objectively.


	2. Ground 2

**The Girl in the Battlesuit**

 _Ivy University, Tall Oaks 2013_

* * *

She pulled back after a long moment where they seemed to be trapped in the swirling, sweeping, scintilating sensation of trying to kill each other. He didn't put her down. She didn't let go of his face.

"So maybe we go back to my room and we both think about my face."

He tilted his head a little and grinned. "Maybe we go back to your room and we both think about your face."

"Yep. Yep yep."

He laughed and she laughed as he set her down. He glanced at his watch a little. "It's five thirty."

"I know."

"It's five fucking thirty."

"Yes it is."

"We have forty five minutes until the I should report back and relieve the day agent for a while."

"Yeah?"

"Probably. Fuck. Fuck alot."

"There's time for that right? But we gotta go now."

He laughed again as she grabbed his hand. And he scanned her face. She grinned and he tugged her back to him. He put against the wall now and he didn't just kiss her, he obliterated her. He tossed a grenade of greed into her core and blew her to smithereens.

They separated to look at each other. She said, "Do you want to come home with me, Leon Kennedy?"

And he answered, "Is there man alive that would say no to that?"

"Most likely."

"What a fucking idiot he is."

She laughed and she pulled him down the alley way. They were at the bed and breakfast where she was booked through the weekend. It was calledThe Nook and Cranny and managed to make charming seem impossibly quaint. The lobby was full of antiques and hand carved wood. He didn't care. He didn't care about any of it.

He should be at the university and be sitting with the president.

But he wasn't.

She barely got the door open and they were inside the room. She was laughing as she leaped around his front. He carried her like she weighed nothing and set her on the dresser in the tiny room. Her hands ripped, his jerked, they both laughed as something split its stitches. She knocked off the lamp there with a swipe of desperate arms as he sunk his teeth into her breast the moment her shirt was gone.

His mouth was amorous and dirty as it whispered things in her ears that made her simultaneously boil and laugh. He broke her jeans and she watched him trip getting out of his pants. They laughed and fell back on the bed with him still wearing one boot and half his pants and her with her bra like a belt and her panties pushed to the side. He kicked over the nightstand in their haste and it tumbled down with a clunk and bumpy racket.

They came together fast and desperate. She mounted him and used his shirt, still trapped over his neck, to hold him down. He grabbed her hips to bring her down against him hard and murderous. Her body was like a machine, riding and ripping sounds from him that may not have been entirely human. She shouted, gasping, as he threw her against the wall to pound into her until she was nearly bow-legged with it.

They rolled across the floor and finished against the corner of the room with her wedged there like a human pretzel while he nailed her body into the hundred year old oak floor. She bucked, spastically at one point, as she came hard enough to scream like a banshee and make him laugh with the insane greed of it. She pinned him to the floor and rode him to the finish, nearly choking him with her hands around his throat as she forced him into her hard enough to blind them both.

He grabbed a handful of her hair and hammered his release into her body as he cursed in three languages and spitted her on him like a flailing, screaming dying thing. They rolled, sweaty, and finally stopped half in the bathroom on the cold tile. She was gasping and stuck to him and wedged in the doorframe. He was still twitching and pulsing inside of her and wedged between her legs and the wall.

She whispered, "Holy hell."

And he laughed, delighted. "I had some guilt, for a minute, about missing the speech."

"Yeah?"

"Possibly. Probably. Or not. I can't seem to care when I'm buried up to my balls in you at the moment."

Jill laughed and glanced down. They were something to see, admittedly, still half dressed…sorta…and sweaty with broken objects all around them. It wasn't a zombie apocalypse, nope, it was just the aftermath of amazing sex. "We broke some stuff."

"I have more money than god. I don't care. I'll buy this whole fucking place and have this room enshrined for you. You are a goddess, a siren, a witch who has clearly come to steal my soul and replace it with a seventeen-year-old boy that wants to pound your delicious body with his until you can't even walk right."

"What an image. Sadly you could take TWO seventeen-year-old boys and still be younger than me. Which is just depressing."

"Not depressing. No. Awesome. Definitely awesome."

"Oh? You don't like young girls? This is a college town, Leon Kennedy. Tell me you weren't looking."

"I look at all kinds of stuff. I like to look at tigers too. Doesn't mean I'm gonna stick my hand in one's mouth or try to ride it. I'm not that fucking stupid."

"Oh? You think I'm safe?"

He leaned back to look at her, wedged against the door with his dick buried in her. "I think you're crack. Or poison. Or maybe both. And I don't give a shit. Let me stay the night with you."

"Yes."

"Yeah?"

"Are you kidding? Stay the night, stay the whole weekend. Marry me, move in here, and let's just stay in bed for the rest of our lives…or on the floor. Or anywhere you want."

He was laughing as he kissed her. It turned slow and soft and sort of sexy. The first pass finished, they were sated enough to stroke now and discover. Naked, they climbed into the big claw foot tub and spent the next hour soapy, laughing, and lazy.

She said while he played with her hands in the water and she leaned against his chest, "No kids huh? No wife?"

"No. The timing was never right. And kids aren't my thing. Never have been. They don't like me."

She looked at him over her shoulder and laughed. "I'm sure that's not true."

"Hand to God. They cry when I'm around. It's odd. I don't DISLIKE them. I just don't get it. They puke and poop and cry a lot. They usually always smell. And they're dirty. Zombies but kinda cute. They think I'm the devil though clearly."

Jill laughed with delight and put her head back on his shoulder. He rolled their fingers together and kissed them which touched her in places she couldn't name. She sighed a little. "But no wife?"

"Nah. I'm not the marrying type. You?"

"Same. Well not the kid thing. I adore kids. I was pregnant once."

He looked down into her face. She met his eyes and smiled a little. "It's ok. It's not a secret. Some years back, Chris and I were together. It was good. We were happy. I found out I was pregnant and the timing wasn't right. It wasn't. But is it ever? We talked about it and we both wanted to keep it. The mission to the Spencer Estate we went on was supposed to be my last. Just a quick information grab….it went bad. Wesker was there and it was a mess."

He was quiet for a long moment. She glanced at his face and there was no judgment there, no pity. He was just stroking her breast, almost like petting, and watching her face. It made it easier to talk about it.

"I died…obviously. And lost the baby. When I started to come out of wherever Wesker had stuck in me, I realized I must have lost it from the trauma. When Chris found me, years later after….everything…things were never the same. We remained the best of friends but the pain, the horror…something. It just was never right again. So we never spoke of it, never found our way back to each other. We just settled into being what we'd been before. Best friends and partners."

"….that's a sad story, Jill Valentine."

"Yeah. It is. But it was ok. After awhile, it was ok. But no matter what, since my time with Wesker, I haven't ever been able to conceive. Not that I've tried because I haven't but I don't think I can anyway. I was dead, technically, and in cryo-stasis and he pumped me full of shit to control me. I think he just fucked me all up. It's better that way, obviously. I wasn't meant to have children. With what we do? Seriously? It's better."

Leon rolled her over the in the water to look at her. He scooped her hair out of her face. And he smiled, "I'm sorry for that. All of it. But I can't be sorry you're here. I'm glad you're here, Jill."

"Me too. I like you. You make me laugh and I enjoy being with you. I don't need anything but that at the moment. What do you say we just go with it and see what happens?"

"I like that idea just fine."

She slid up his body and kissed him. It was a good kiss now. A sweet kiss. The kind of kiss between two people getting to know each other.

Damp, laughing, they curled up on the big bed to snuggle. She said, "You didn't go to work."

"Technically, I don't exactly work for Adam."

"Did you just call the most powerful man in the free world by his given name?"

"I've known him since I was a kid. So yeah."

"So tell me about what it is you do…do…Leon Kennedy."

"….side stepping the doodoo joke…"

"Although not entirely."

"Given…it's…ok...how to explain it? So the DSO is Adam's creation. Yes it is. It's his…sword of justice. He's the ultimate voice behind it. But not really."

"….none of that makes any sense, Mr. Kennedy."

"Ha. Ok." Leon pulled her over and she sat against his chest while he wrapped his legs around hers and she rubbed his thighs absently. "I work FOR Adam. But I'm in charge."

"Still not getting it."

"I'm the power behind the Nothing."

"Did you just reference The Never Ending Story?" She rolled her head to look at him. He was grinning. He was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. And she'd once found bunnies making a home in her kitchen.

"Yes I did."

"Are you the guy behind the curtain? Are you the Wizard of Oz?!"

And now he was laughing as he kissed her shoulder and her neck. "Yes I am. He is the public face. But it's my organization. We founded it together. I work with the FOS directly which mostly consists of Ingrid Hunnigan."

"You work with a hot chic all day and night?"

Leon shrugged a little. "I work with hot chics all the time. I am not, however, sleeping with all of them. And I definitely NOT sleeping with Hunnigan."

"Why?"

"I don't usually shit where I eat."

"Pfft. You flirt with everything."

"True. But harmless. Hunnigan, Adam and I are like the three prongs on a pitchfork. I coordinate with him on missions and things that require the DSO to step in. Hunnigan is the go between with other agencies. A lot of times, the BSAA and the DSO cross paths on it and butt heads."

"Oh yeah. I'm aware. I had to listen to Chris bitch for DAYS about that thing in Russia."

"That was his fault entirely. He knew it was a federal situation. I should have been called immediately." Leon laughed and cupped her breast to watch it peak and feel the weight of it. Real. Perfect. Beautiful. He forgot what he was going to say and she coughed. "Uh. Right. What was I saying?"

Delighted, she rolled over and kissed him. She loved him looped around her like this. It was adorable and wonderful and sexy. She bit lazy and slow over his chest. He closed one eye, focusing.

"What were we talking about?"

Laughing, Jill muttered, "What your job is."

"Right! Right." She bit into his nipple and he made a sound. And what was better than that? He squeaked when he talked, "Yeah. So I'm kinda a big deal."

"Are you?"

"Yep. Yes. Yes I am."

He grabbed her face and brought it up to him. "God damn, what are you doing to me? I'm naked in this bed, you're chewing on me, and I should be sitting with the president. The president. The POTUS. The most powerful man in the known world. But I'm here. In this bed."

"You want to leave?"

"Are you fucking kidding me? Who would say yes to that?"

"Probably someone."

"That guy joins the lists of fucking idiots we've already talked about today."

Jill shifted and straddled him. He rotated, excited her, and angled himself into her body. She sheathed him there, settled on him, and made them both gasp with it.

He rolled her over him, lifted her up, and brought her down again on the heady length of his body. She grabbed his face. His hands worked her hips and perfect little butt.

He said, hoarse and low, "Yeah. Who would say yes to that?"

She laughed, gasped, and moaned. They moved together, slow but almost impossibly obsessed with each other. They ended up with her pinned against the headboard, holding on, and he curled around her with her legs over his arms. The headboard slapped the wall, loud and obnoxious most likely to the other rooms, but who really gave a shit?

They hammered the holy hell out of each other and ended up half on the floor, half on the bed. She was upside down for the second time in one day staring at his feet. She wasn't sure how they'd even managed to get their rocks off like this but they'd managed.

He was the most incredible man she'd put her hands on in years.

She queried, to his feet, "Where have you been all my life?"

"Inevitably," He panted and rolled over her to bring them both, sorta, back on the bed, "I've been two steps away from you. Why? Clearly this is why. If we'd met, we'd have fucked each other stupid in Raccoon City and probably died there."

"….there's probably some truth to that."

"So the universe conspired to keep us apart so that wouldn't happen."

"Interesting theory. Then why bring us together now?"

"Maybe the bioterrorism game is over. Maybe we get to retire. You want to retire with me? I'm a helluva cook. Alternatively, I have a penthouse in New York with a private pool."

"….are you trying to woo me with your piles of money then, Leon Kennedy?"

She rolled on top of him. He rubbed her back and butt, skimming his fingers in between to touch her sticky center. She gasped and shivered. "Not really." And it was said softly and excitedly, "Do I need to do that?"

"Nope. No. Just use your cock. Works like a charm."

And now he laughed and hugged her.

They fell asleep wrapped around each other. She was tucked into his front as they lay side by side. He had one hand cupping a breast and the other under their heads. She had one curled around the one on her breast and the other wrapped around his naked hips and butt. It was a good way to sleep.

They both slept better than anyone had. Ever.

* * *

They awoke in the dead of the night to touch each other. She came awake with him inside of her and his hand holding her groin to angle her back. She lifted her leg and they merged, fluidly, deeply. She was gasping and soft and sated, coming against his body wet and smooth. He licked a wet line up her spine and shivered, spilling inside of her while she gasped his name.

They slid back into sleep, fulfilled.

The warm light of the morning brought his eyes open. He lifted his head, feeling sorta smelly and kinda sticky. What a night. Best night ever.

He was on top of her now, his ear over her chest. Her legs were lazily wrapped around him. She was beautiful, even if she was kinda snoring. He shifted, looked at her soft and sleeping face, and slid into her.

She came awake instantly, gasped, and caught his face in her hands. Her eyes blurred and her skin flushed. Beautiful, he thought, and he went from hard to steely inside of her which managed to excite them both. He said, hoarsely, "Hi."

"Hi. Shit. Hi."

"Ready?"

"Oh yeah. Yes."

He laughed and hammered her into the bed while the bed squeaked and hopped. She was laughing and groaning and making some sound of delight. He laughed too and it ended on groan and a grunt as he pinned her arms above her head and tried to drive himself out the other side of her body.

He flipped her over, she grabbed the headboard, and he pistoned his body into her from behind. She slapped back on him, shouting. He'd ridden rodeo once in Sante Fe. The bull had done its level best to toss him into the dirt. It was the meanest, fastest, hardest ride he'd ever had. This was like that. But sexy and amazing and nearly twice as hard.

He used her hair to hold her, she tried to buck him off her and force him harder at the same time. He rode her mercilessly, she kept screaming, and he plowed into her until they were both gasping from it. They fell over and finished on the floor, laughing.

She gasped, sideways now, somehow sideways. "What is happening here?"

"I'm thinking possession. Is there a demon in here?"

"I think you're the demon, Leon Kennedy. Did you sell your soul for an endless erection?"

"Does it matter if the answer is yes?"

"Nope. Not a fucking bit."

"Then yes I did."

She laughed and he rolled up to his feet. He picked her up over his shoulder and she laughed, delighted, as he carried her into the shower. They were still laughing when they came back out to get dressed.

He looked down at his clothes which were wrinkled and a mess on the floor.

"Hmm."

"What?"

"How can I wear this crap? I need more clothes."

"….yeah? Put that shit on and I'll take you shopping. My treat."

"You want to buy me clothes?"

Jill was slipping on khakis and a blue tank top. She smiled at him. "I do. Why? You think I can't afford the shit you wear?"

Leon laughed and looped an arm around her waist. He drew her into him and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and gave him her tongue. They swirled, laughed a little, and drew apart. She watched him dress. He had scars scattered over his perfect torso. Her chest still bore the fine scars of the device she'd worn for three years. They had bodies that were honed, hard, and bore the marks of survival.

Why had they never met before? And why now? Did it really matter? No. But slid her hands all over that perfect chest anyway and got a long, long, long kiss for her efforts.

Where had she come from? He mused this inside of his brain while he threw on his wrinkled and ruined clothes. This woman that told him all about herself and seemed to enjoy his company. She made him laugh, she stole his breath, she rocked his world. His safe, comfortable, sometimes incredibly boring world. Was this what life looked like when you put down the sword?

It was a good picture, that was for damn sure.

They ended up at one of the little shops in town. She watched him dress, she circled her finger to show himself off. Amused, enthralled, and crazy about her, he did it. He tried on everything she picked and showed it off. He lifted his shirt to show his ass off when instructed and laughed when she nodded.

And he let her buy it all. It didn't matter to him but it did to her. So why not?

He left in a black button down silk shirt and a leather motorcycle jacket that she made a growl at when he'd come out of the dressing room. She made some kind of purr in her throat and had him laughing. They walked through the town that was over run now with tens of thousands of people excited to see the President. She had her arm tucked under the jacket and around his waist. His arm was looped over her shoulders.

He realized, as they walked, he hadn't been this happy in a long time. Maybe ever. Maybe EVER. She was talking about the impossibility of Silent Hill happening. She was adamant about it. She was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen. He turned her into his body while she talked and cupped her face.

Jill was saying, "So it's IMPOSSIBLE that you could jump between space and time like that. Clearly."

"Hmm. You're a big nerd."

"….I take offense to that. Mildly."

"Don't. Not even a little bit." He kissed her in the middle of the street. She cupped his adorable butt in her hands and pulled him into her. The director of the DSO and one of the founding members of the BSAA were currently standing in the middle of the street and sucking face.

He drew back and she did too. He said, "Come to the speech tonight."

"Well that's kinda what I'm here for. So I think I will."

He laughed but shook his head. "No. Come there as my guest. Come sit at the big table with me during the banquet."

"….oh. You want me to show up as your date?"

"Yeah. I do. Yeah I do. What do you say?"

"Absolutely. Why not? Sure everyone amongst the two organizations will wag tongues and tell everyone else. But who cares? I can't think of any thing I'd like more."

Just like that. No strings. No drama. She just said yes. She just made him feel like he'd gotten a yes from the prom queen. Who was this girl?

"Awesome. I think something really great is going to happen tonight. I can feel it."

"Me too! I have a good feeling about this speech and the whole thing. It's gonna be good for the whole bioterrorism community."

"Maybe. But you and me? That is the best thing happening in Tall Oaks, hands down."

Jill grinned and was sorry to have to say goodbye. But they still had to work. It still had to be done. Unless they were ready to retire and live a quiet life away from what the game. Neither of them had reached that point yet.

"Agreed. I'll miss you, Leon Kennedy."

He laughed and turned back to her to wink. "I started missing you the second you let go, gorgeous. Wear something beautiful for me tonight."

"Can I wear you?"

"You think the President would mind? Pardon me, Mr. President, I need to just take a moment out of our agenda this evening to nail my girlfriend. Do you mind?"

"Girlfriend?"

"Sure. I like it. What do you think?"

She gave him a shrug. "Why not?"

"Why not indeed. See ya later, Jill Valentine."

"Mr. Kennedy."


	3. Ground 3

**Why should I trust a traitor?**

Ivy University, Tall Oaks 2013

* * *

She went back to the B&B to get ready for the banquet. Lord she was insane. What was she doing here? When was the last time she'd just let go and did something like this? When? Ever? Never. Never really. Not in fifteen years anyway. It was insane.

She was NOT a kid anymore. What good could come out of what was happening here?

Her brain said, do you care? She didn't care. She wanted him. And every aching minute of awesome that was him. She dressed in pretty and simple lacy white dress for the banquet. It was strapless and short with a little brown belt around her narrow waist. She wore it with comfortable, faded, but beautiful turquoise detailed cowboy boots with a teal heel. She gathered up her hair in a loose but chic knot, leaving some curly pieces around her face and added some chunky turquoise earrings.

She was cute but still casual. The banquet was not, at all, a formal affair. The whole campus and town was invited. Security was tight, naturally, but it was a matter of clearing the check points to get in. The campus of Ivy University was three deep with people. Bodies laughed and danced and partied. Balloons and booths and excitement littered the quad with risers everywhere.

It was going to be a helluva night once things got rolling. No lie.

She crossed the campus, feeling the summer breeze tickle her face, and listening to the distant rumble of thunder. She really hoped it didn't rain. It would totally ruin the festivities. Or maybe not. Sometimes parties had a way of going on long after they were crashed by an unwelcome guest.

Jill passed security with her badge and a finger print scan. She was cleared inside the administration building and headed toward the banquet hall. It was already littered with guests. She made nice. She shook hands and greeted and laughed.

Faces and jokes and excitement was everywhere. She met the Dean, met other members of the DSO. She met multiple members of the Secret Service. One girl, Helena Harper, seemed a bit of a nervous wreck but the word about her was that she was a bit squirrely anyway.

And there near the stage? Well there was the only guy that mattered anyway. And he was standing beside the President of the United States. Jill moved forward and he caught her eye and grinned, stepping forward to take her hand. He spun her in the circle of bodies around them and made her laugh.

"I said something beautiful. You look like my secret idea of a dirty cowgirl. How am I supposed to work when you look like this?"

"You don't think I look beautiful?"

And the director of the DSO took her face and turned it up to him. "If you were wearing a trash bag, you would be beautiful."

And he kissed her.

Ok, she mused, they were out of the closet now one way or the other. They were now an item in the eyes of her coworkers, his, and the most powerful man in the free world. Awesome. AND SCARY.

Leon put an arm over her shoulders and she looped hers around his waist under the jacket. He introduced her to the President or "Adam" as if she'd EVER call him that. And they talked viruses and dinner and the weather.

At one point, an agent came over and drew Leon away. He murmured, gestured, and the look on Leon's face went from amused and flirtatious toward Jill to concerned. He nodded, spoke back, and used his hands to indicate something. He turned back toward them.

"Adam, there's a security concern we need to address."

"Really?" The President set down the pig in the blanket he'd been noshing on.

"Potentially. And it could be nothing. But I'd like to have you escorted some place safe until I'm sure."

"Of course." Four secret service agents came over to assist in the transfer. "Ms. Valentine."

"Mr. President, an absolute pleasure."

He was escorted away and Jill turned her eyes to Leon. "Everything ok?"

"Maybe. There's been a threat made toward him."

"Real?"

"Don't know yet. I hate to leave you here."

"Hey. I'm fine. Go ahead. Do you want some help? I can get my guys to back you up here."

He watched her face. "Yeah. Actually yeah. It can't hurt. We're gonna sweep the grounds and the building. The threat level is assassination level. It's serious but unsubstantiated. So tell them to be careful."

"Ok. Give me a second and I will go with you."

"Alright. Thanks."

"You bet. And are you kidding? This is the president, Leon. What else matters here?"

"Right."

They went together through the excited banquet hall and out a side door. They were in the kitchens. He gave her his spare piece to use. She checked it, cleared it, and flipped the safety off. They started to clear the area looking for potential threats.

The kitchens were warm with the ovens having been fired up to help with the dinner. They were industrial and steel with plenty of high-end appliances. A check of freezers and lockers cleared the first area in a handful of moments.

"How credible is the threat?" Jill asked as they moved into the far hallway toward the back side of the building.

"It was brought to attention by his secret service staff. So credible. But why? And from where? It's fishy."

"Maybe it's idle."

"That too." They emerged into a staff entrance hallway littered with old pallets and various boxes of goods. Some were cargo crates and some were simply empty food containers. Jill shifted her pistol as something skittered down the hallway.

It disappeared around the corner. She gestured and Leon nodded, moving toward the retreating shape. They cleared the corner, one high, one low and found a girl huddled in the corner covering her face. Leon glanced at Jill and she shrugged. The girl was trembling, hiding and shaking. She was so scared that she was rocking while she crouched.

And she was bloody.

She was covered in blood.

Leon froze. Jill froze. And they heard it. They heard the screaming. It started soft and they could almost, almost, almost pretend it wasn't real. But the din of noise and horror was soon so loud, ear splitting, and the panic of mass pandemonium began. People were screaming in the banquet hall.

The girl before them lowered her hands…and she was missing a chunk of her face. Someone had taken a big bite and ripped it clear in a burst of flesh and blood. She was sobbing and bleeding everywhere. And then?

Well then she jerked, gasping, bucked and moaned and died.

She died with a wet gurgle in a mess on the bloody floor.

And Leon said, "No."

Just no. Just one word. One word whispered soft and in denial. One word that Jill echoed, shaking her head. And the body on the floor spastically shook and rose. Too fast. Scary fast. Freak of nature in the middle of a horrifying chase scene fast. She shot to her feet screaming and raced at them. Her eyes were red, blood shot and awful. Her face was bloody and still bleeding. She had just DIED! How had she turned so fast?!

Leon shot her in the face, no thinking. He shot her with a loud boom in the quiet hallway. The screaming outside in the banquet hall was punctured now with the wails of the dying, the echoing howl of the damned as they turned. Jill whispered, "Leon..Leon…what is happening here?"

"I don't know. I don't know." He grabbed her face with one of his. Has tactical glove was scratchy. "Focus. Stay with me."

"I am. I am. I'm here."

"We need to get to Adam."

"YES. Now!"

"Follow me, Jill." And he ran for the far doors. "Stay together. Don't break formation. I don't need to tell you how to survive out there."

"No. I'm the last person you need to tell."

"Jesus Christ…how are we here again?"

She shook her head, "I don't know. Let's just pray it's not as bad as it sounds."

They burst into the banquet hall and it wasn't as bad as it sounded. It was worse. It was chaos. People fell, they ran and fell, screaming as they were eaten alive where they fell. The place was infested, already infested, as the few that survived ran screaming from the hall.

There wasn't enough bullets in the world to stop them all.

They ran; ignoring when they could, shooting when they couldn't, not wasting ammo if they didn't have to. The stage was being torn down by the undead. The balloons, beautiful and shimmery, were splattered with blood in a horror movie tableau.

The staircase curved sharply and they burst into the hallway at the top, running. They were running for the safe room where Leon had sent the president. They were running toward the only hope left.

The four secret service agents attached to him were dead. They were dead and undead alike. They attacked in a flurry of reaching hands and screaming faces. Leon shot the first one and Jill the second. The third got a handful of her hair and Leon punched it square in the face. She shot it with the muzzle of her gun tucked up against its chin. It exploded blood and gore all over her pretty party dress.

Leon kicked the fourth one when it lunged and dispatched it with a clean shot to the left eye. He stood there, breathing sharp and fast amongst the bodies of those who'd once been his friend. She grabbed his hand. "Focus. Stay with me."

And she turned the command back on him to help him follow it.

He nodded and threw open the door to the safe room.

Adam was slumped at the desk.

"Mr. President!"

The face that raised wasn't him. Not anymore. Not physically or mentally or mortally. The president of the united states was dead. He was undead. He was done for.

The assassination? It had gone off without a hitch. With the exception of all the zombies screaming and snarling and killing of course.

The president was already rotting. He was decomposing so quickly that it was frightening. Jill said, softly, "What strain is this? What IS this?"

"Not T. Not like this. Not this fast. Fucking Christ."

"I'm so sorry, Leon."

The door to the other side opened and Helena Harper stepped in. Leon yelled, "MOVE! HURRY!"

And the president lunged for her.

Jill raised her weapon, Helena screamed, and Leon shouted, "ADAM!" Before he put a bullet into the head of his lifelong friend.

Before he drilled the temple on the most powerful man in the western world and watched it arc with blood. The body staggered and went down in a puddle of widening blood. Leon lowered his gun and staggered himself, putting a hand on his face.

Helena Harper whispered, "What have I done? What have I done!? What have I done!?"

Jill checked to be sure the president was dead. And stayed dead. She rose and moved back toward Leon. She spoke, softly, "He's gone. He's done. Look at me."

He did, slowly. She grabbed his forearm. "No time for that. You hear me? No time for guilt or remorse. No now. Not yet. We have to find who did this. Quickly."

He nodded, rotating his arm to grab hers back and squeeze. He nodded and turned his attention to Helena. "What do you mean you did it? What did you do?"

"Agent Kennedy…I need to tell you things. Please. But I have to do it at Tall Oaks Cathedral. The answers? They're all there."

Leon tilted his head, "How do you know who I am?"

"Everyone knows who you are."

And Helena's phone went off. They were suddenly staring into the face of Ingrid Hunnigan. "Leon! Helena! You're alright!"

Jill was checking the room to be sure they were secure. The screaming was done. Whatever horror was happening, it was quiet for now.

"I need an update, quickly."

And Leon said, quietly, "I just shot the president."

"What!?"

Helena leaped into the conversation, quickly, "It's my fault. He was protecting me. But the president had turned before we got here. What's happening?"

"The infection has spread to three miles beyond the campus and it's still going. We don't know what it is. But we know you need to get out now!"

"How bad is the infection?"

"Right now?" There was commotion behind her as she spoke, people rushing and yelling and moving, "90%."

"Fucking Christ."

"Find a way out and quickly."

Helena said, "Agent Kennedy has a tip on who's responsible. But we need to get to Tall Oaks Cathedral to check it out."

They locked eyes and held. Leon said, quietly, "Yeah. I have a lead."

"Ok. Follow it down. But BE QUICK ABOUT IT. "

"We will."

Hunnigan signed off. Helena looked at the two of them standing there. "I can't explain it now. Not yet. I need you to see it to believe me. You have to see it. You have to go with me."

With no other choice, they looked at each other and then they looked at Helena Harper. She said, "Please. I swear. I'll explain everything when we get there. PLEASE."

Tall Oaks, the best day ever, had just ended in the worst night in recent history.

Things would only get better right? But things were about to get infinitely, continuously, and torturously worse.

* * *

The sounds of the fight were dead. Dead. Gone. Like the president was dead. He wouldn't hear the jokes of the most powerful man in the world anymore. He wouldn't watch him do the robot and fail miserably at it. He wouldn't sit beside him at a Fundraiser and listen to him wax nostalgic about being just a colonel in the Army. He wouldn't sit across from at Christmas dinner and watch the pride on his face when one of his grandchildren did something extraordinary.

Because the POTUS, the president, his life long friend and confidant…was lying on the floor with a bullet in his left temple. He was lying in a pool of his own widening…infected…blood. He was dead. And Leon Kennedy had been the person to pull the trigger.

Helena Harper was looking at them. She was pale and panicked and desperate. She was gesturing with her hands. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please. Agent Kennedy….Agent Valentine…I can show you. You need to know. I can show you. But we have to go now. Please. While there's still time."

She was right, of course. It was time to go. The smell of rot and copper was strong in the office. The dog tags the President wore beneath his collar had fallen free and were lying in the pool of blood beneath his garbled face. Leon crouched and grabbed them. He jerked, feeling the cool, wet, metal in his fist. He fisted them in his bare palm, closing his eyes. The breath he drew was slow, harsh, and shuddering.

He had to get it together. He had to find his center. He was better than this, faster, stronger, and he'd been face to face with the madness so many times in his life that this? This was just another outbreak. This was just another burning city. It was just another mess that needed a hero. And he was alone, like always, to see it through.

He felt the air shift a little and a soft hand touched the side of his face. He opened his eyes. And two pairs of blue eyes caught, held, and locked. And it got, in that moment, easier to breathe. Because he wasn't alone.

Not this time..

This time?

SHE was here with him. And she'd survived it too. She'd stood in the blood and the fire and lived. Baptized in blood in Raccoon City, they'd both been born there amongst the ashes of their own shattered innocence. A girl and a boy had become warriors in the hollowed out necropolis that had once been home for them. The horror, the betrayal, the loss…it peppered their future in blood and regret. She'd picked up the sword to fight for justice and he'd been blackmailed into serving to become a savior. But the same need to protect encircled them both. They wouldn't ever halt, wouldn't quit, and would not falter until the job was done. That was something else they shared.

Jill Valentine cupped his face over the body of his fallen friend and it was a little easier to breathe. A little easier to rise. And a little easier to go on.

She said, softly, "Ok?"

He turned his head, just a little, and kissed her palm. Her thumb swept a smear of dried blood from his cheek and she smiled, so gently. "There's time for all of it, Leon. Time to grieve him and time to feel it. But it can't be now."

He nodded and rose. She slid their palms together to hold the President's dog tags between their hands. She squeezed and he answered it, nodding again. "Thank you."

"Let's find out who did this," Jill avowed softly, "And end them."

Another nod and they turned, facing the girl waiting for them. Leon said, gruffly and with a little hoarseness that made Jill link their fingers and hold, just a little. "You better have some pretty good answers, Harper."

"I do. I do. Let's hurry. I'll show you."

She hurried out into the hallway ahead of them.

Leon moved to let go of her hand and Jill tugged, just once. He turned and cupped the side of her face. He kissed her, smooth, soft. "Stay close to me."

Touched at the concern, she smiled up at him. "Where else would I go?"

They moved into the hallway. Jill moved at his six and they cleared the first office to the right. Jill tried to raise her team on her headset to no avail. He followed Hunnigan's instructions and they moved through the hallway to the far side of the stairs.

They crossed slowly through the decimated banquet hall. Tables had been over turned, chairs knocked askew and littering the ground with the corpses that waited. Bodies…bodies and parts of bodies and blood. There were arms without hands and hands without fingers. There were heads and chunks of flesh and blood sprayed far and wide like someone had turned on a hose and just cut loose.

The stage was washed in it. There were three dead girls piled atop each other and missing pieces of faces and throats. Helena Harper was making some kind of terrible keen in her throat.

Leon gave her a cold expression that worried Jill a little.

Jill, taking pity on her, touched her face. "Hey…hey hey."

The girl met her eyes. Helena would panic if they didn't get her to calm down. Admittedly, it was a horrible thing to see. For someone who'd never stood witness to it? It was a nightmare.

"Helena…look at me."

Helena turned that gaze to her while Leon stood guard, scanning the room for threats.

"This is fucking awful. It's bad. It doesn't get much worse. But you have to hold it together. You have to. Or you'll make a stupid move and die here. Do you understand? You have to be better than this."

Helena grabbed Jill's wrist and nodded, breathing fast and shallow. She gathered her resolve. "This is my fault."

Leon shook his head at her. "You keep saying that. You keep saying it. What does that even mean?"

Jill shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Not now. Now? Now we get off this campus. Take us to the cathedral, Helena. We can discuss the rest of it later."

Helena nodded and moved. She turned. They caught sight of movement, turned…and the lights flickered off. Lightning burst in the windows and was accompanied by an enormous peel of thunder that actually had Leon jumping a little.

Jill twitched her mouth with a smile and clicked on the light on her headset. He copied it and so did Helena. Wryly, he met Jill's eyes. "Not a peep, Valentine."

She grinned at him in the low lighting.

At the far side of the room, they heard running feet. Glancing between each other, they moved after the noise. In the hallway, a man was dragging a woman toward the elevator there. Leon lifted his gun on them.

Jill grabbed the barrel and shook her head.

The man paused, seeing them. He was coughing harshly. The woman he was helping was covered in blood. She listed badly as he half carried her. He called, "Come on! Hurry! We can get out through the garage."

Leon moved toward them with Helena and Jill in tow. They moved onto the elevator. The woman slumped against the man, breathing harshly. The man, small and squat in glasses, looked up at them.

"This is my daughter…Lisa. I'm Max. I'm the caretaker here. I…I saw you with the President. I heard about you. Please…she's hurt so badly. Can you help us?"

Leon and Jill held eyes above the head of the wounded girl. She was bitten. It was clear in the way she slumped and the blood on her face and neck. How long? How long before she turned?

And the emergency lights in the elevator flickered off.

They were immersed into darkness.

There was a sound of heavy breathing. There was a sound of gasping. Max made a cry of disbelief.

"LISA! She's not breathing! LIIIIISA!"

The horror of that cry froze the blood. Leon whipped his light to the scene of it. And Max was screaming now. Screaming.

Helena let out a moan of fear. She huddled against the wall of the descending elevator.

Max's throat was ripped free in a burst of blood. He went down, gurgling and gasping. Lisa didn't stop. She leapt. Jill fired and the shot went wild, smashing into the wall an inch from Helena.

Lisa leapt like a wild thing. She leapt like a licker. She leapt like no zombie had ever leapt before. She caught Leon in a full body tackle and threw him into the wall. He let her, listening to Helena crying out, listening to the death rattle of the dying man on the floor.

Lisa slammed him into the wall and threw him to the floor. She mounted him like a jockey on a race horse and roared her hunger to the small enclosed space.

Lisa had wild, burning, desperate red eyes that stole his attention and teeth that snapped an inch from his face.

Jill yelled, "Kick her up!"

Leon turned his face, missed losing his nose, and kicked her up in the air. Jill spun a kick at her, hit her mid center, and tossed her into the wall. He was already rolling to one knee. He drove his combat knife up from the kneeling position. He put it in her chin and it burst through her face and out the top of her head in a splatter of gore and brain matter.

He jerked the knife clean with a squelch and plop of tissue and blood. Lisa spilled to the floor atop her dead father. And the doors of the elevator opened with a ping. The parking garage was in view before them…for just a shining moment….before hell rushed in.

They lurched in by the half dozen. They were suddenly in the tiny elevator with six zombies, two corpses, and no hope. Leon spun a sweep kick from the floor and took them down in a rush. Helena blasted the face of one an inch from his shoulder. He drove his shoulder into the next in a tackle and shoved them clear of the elevator.

Jill picked off two more that tried to eat his arms while he did it. She drove up under the reaching arms of another and flipped it over her back, tossing it away. Her hands grabbed his jacket and jerked him clear of the lunging face of another.

He drove his knife into the eye of it and watched it jerk, flop, and fall.

Leon watched a survivor fall, hitting the side of a police cruiser in the underground parking lot. He set off the alarm and it echoed, echoed, ringing loud and obnoxious. The lowered gate at the far side of the parking lot was suddenly over run with the dead.

Leon gestured to the security office at the far side and they rushed toward it. He slid across the hood of a fallen car and missed losing his face to three zombies that raced hungrily at them. Helena hit the door first and burst inside, Jill covered him while he ran and they slammed the door together; breathing shallow and fast.

Half lit monitors showed various security points on the campus in the darkened room. The office where Adam lay in his own blood. The garage behind them rapidly filling with undead. The campus courtyard over run with corpses and bloodied balloons. Both dorms filled with corpses and zombies and blood. Two people were holding up signs in the men's dorm that said HELP US! HELP!

Behind them, zombies moved toward them. Leon shifted, "Let's go."

Jill grabbed his arm to stop him. "Leon…they're gone. We can't help them."

On the screen, the zombies had reached them and were eating them alive.

Leon swallowed the regret and shifted his gaze to the cameras. "Let's get out through the courtyard. Hunnigan?"

On his headset, Hunnigan said, "There's a security gate that can be accessed on the far west side. Should lead you out to the street. Get off that campus, Leon. Hurry. It's getting worse by the minute."

Leon, Jill, and Helena moved to the opposite door and opened it into stairwell. The silence was loud in it. They cleared as they moved, quiet and lost.

The stairs ended at the main floor of the administration building. The hallway was destroyed. It looked like mass hysteria had manifested in people fleeing and falling and blocking when they couldn't run anymore.

Doorways were over run with over turned tables and boxes. The windows that lined the wall beside him reflected the rain that had started outside. It whipped with wind through the cracked and jagged glass, offering a view of the tennis court down below. Thunder rumbled again, ominously.

They moved toward the far hallway and met with debris blocking them. They were forced to turn into a lecture hall to cut across. The seating was amphitheater and went down a flight to the floor where the professor would offer his knowledge to the waiting pupils that once sat in the seats to listen.

Helena kicked an old can of Pepsi with one boot and it rattled and rolled, plopping and plunking with a metallic clink down the rows of steps to the bottom. It alerted two of them that rose from the floor and two seats surrounding. They were slow now. Slow. T-Virus slow.

He studied them, watching how they moved.

They moaned and lumbered, shambling toward them. He shot the first one between the eyes and moved down the steps with his knife. A boot to the hip and a knife to the back of the skull dispatched the second. Jill picked off the third on the floor without missing a beat.

He said, for Helena's benefit, "Disable the brain. That's how you put them down."

Helena whispered, "I can't believe this is happening."

"Well get over it," Leon answered harshly, "It's them or us. And they don't hesitate."

He moved through the far doors without another word. Helena made a small sound of ascent. Jill patted her shoulder companionably. "He's upset. He shouldn't take it out on you."

Helena shrugged a little, "I deserve it. I do. He's right. I deserve it."

Shaking her head, Jill followed Leon out into the hallway. She could hear him taking out some zombies that shambled in the foyer beside the door to the courtyard. When the last one collapsed, he stomped its rotting face into the ground. She saw him vibrate with it. He was so mad. It shimmered around him like a mist.

Jill caught his arm and held it. She said nothing. But his hand came up and covered hers and he breathed a little easier again.

Nodding, he turned to the doors. "Clear and move, quickly. Clear and move. Don't linger and stay in a V. Nobody lone rangers, nobody panics…"

He looked at Helena pointedly.

She nodded, pale but determined.

"Let's move."

They pushed open the doors with Leon and Jill clearing as they swung into the courtyard. She picked off the first one that turned toward them. He took out another one. She realized he was a fucking crack shot. He put a clean round into the eyeball of it from a hundred yards. And he didn't even blink.

Impressed, she glanced at his face.

He glanced back at her as they moved. "What?"

"I heard that about you."

"What's that?"

"That you're the best there is with a pistol."

Leon shrugged a little. "Rumors. Stories. I'm no Chris Redfield. They say he never misses."

"He misses," Jill smiled a little, "But not when it matters. And humble looks good on you, Leon Kennedy. Sexy."

Amused, he winked at her.

They shifted toward the gate and found it locked. Considering, Leon glanced back at the security building. He shook his head and cradled his hands.

Jill nodded, put her boot in them, and he tossed her up without flinching. She liked that. He was strong, he was an eagle eyed shot, he was sexy and funny and real enough to hurt about putting down a zombie that had once been his friend. She felt her belly tingle.

And she kinda knew she was in trouble.

Jill dropped on the other side of the gate and knelt. She pulled a few pins from her hair and went to town on the lock that dangled. Leon covered her while Helena covered the other side. The lock gave with a clink and a clatter of the chain falling. Jill pushed open the gate with a rusty squeal of hinges. Impressed, he eyed her.

"You're useful, Jill Valentine. I should keep you around."

"I have my moments."

"That master of unlocking."

Amused, she grinned at him. "Rumors. Stories."

Leon felt the smile bloom on his face. And he kinda loved her. "You clever thing. I'm kinda into you, Jill Valentine."

"Ditto, Kennedy. Let's get the fuck out of this mess."

Leon turned back to wait for Helena and they moved down the far alley. They were halfway there when the sounds reached them. And they were surrounded. Just like that.


	4. Ground 4

**Sewer Gators**

 **Tall Oaks 2013**

* * *

Windows burst with the musical tinkle of shattering glass. Bodies fell onto the cobblestone walk to chase them. More poured from open doorways and surrounding buildings.

They battled, they retreated, they tried to turn back. And they were blocked there as well.

They pushed forward and there was a police cruiser there with rotating red and blue lights. Hurrying toward it, they leapt in. Helena leapt into the passenger side, Jill slipped into the back, and Leon grabbed the driver's seat.

They started digging for the keys while the slapping started. It echoed. It was hands and faces and blood and moaning. They shook the car with it. Helena checked the glovebox. Jill looked under the seats. Leon finally found the keys in the visor above the windshield.

Jill didn't find the keys under the seat but she found a shotgun. She hefted it, grinning.

Leon hit the gas and the cruiser shot forward, bumping, crunching and taking bodies with it. They left smears of blood on the ground as they ran over their attackers and hit the road at a fast clip.

Over his headset, he said, "Hunnigan – we're off the campus. Headed to the cathedral."

"Good. Stay clear of the main part of town if you can. It's over run. Take the back roads."

"Roger."

The little cruiser shot down the road, fast and smooth. Jill leaned back in the seat and buckled herself in. Helena shifted in the front seat. Leon glanced at her face, "You said it was your fault. Tell me what you meant."

Helena shook her head, "Not yet. I have to show you. Ok? Please."

Leon opened his mouth to say something else and a little boy ran out into the street. Jill shouted. The boy lifted his hands to scream at them to stop and Leon hit the brakes. The body that had been, apparently, waiting on the roof for just that moment, tumbled to the hood and reared back.

Time went still, Leon jerked the wheel and missed the little boy in the road by inches, and the zombie on the hood of the cruiser punched clear through the safety glass of the windshield. It shattered in a spill of chunky glass. It didn't hurt where it landed which as the purpose of the safety glass. Real glass would have cut them to ribbons. It rained down on them like chunks of hail while Helena shot the advancing zombie through the broken windshield. It grabbed Leon as it went backward, ripping him toward the shattered window. He lost control of the cruiser, Helena grabbed for him, Jill grabbed for the wheel….and it was too late.

The car spun, it skidded, it squealed and laid rubber and toppled left. And it flipped. It flipped, sparking with metal and fire, it skidded and tumbled. The zombie was obliterated in the roll and Leon fell back in his seat.

Helena hit the roof, Leon hit the broken windshield and felt it cut his face, and the car spun like a top on its roof and came to a stop. Jill had been saved for being tossed around by her belt. The engine clunked and sputtered and burst into flame.

Jill turned and kicked out the shattered window beside her. She crawled free and turned back to help Leon through. Helena emerged from the other side. She was limping and bloody but alright. Jill looped his arm over her shoulders and led them away from the car. After a few moments, it erupted with flame and sound. The explosion was loud and forceful. It tried to knock them around like bowling pins. It erupted and took out two other cars with it, creating a symphony of flame and crackling heat.

They were surrounded now by fire.

Over his headset, Hunnigan said, "Oh my god! Are you alright?"

Helena answered, "We're ok. But we're trapped."

"You have to take the sewer system. It will take you to the subway tracks. From there, you can get to the main part of town. But…it's horrible. It's bad. I wish I could tell you a safer route. What's in that cathedral? Is it worth all this?"

Helena held their gazes as Jill and Leon turned to her.

She nodded. "We need what's there. Need it. It's how we stop the man who did this. Please. You have to trust me."

Leon said, into the headset, "Yeah. It's worth it."

"Be careful. I'm sending a subway and sewer map to your phone. I'm getting reports in from all over. The town is lost, Leon. If you find any survivors, do your best to get them out. But it may be a lost cause."

Leon breathed a little and let go of Jill. Sore but ok, he turned to the manhole cover that waited for them. His phone beeped in a map. He glanced at Jill in the flickering firelight.

She turned and Helena leapt down into the open manhole. Leon sighed a little and followed her. Jill went last and stumbled a little in the dark when she landed.

Leon steadied her and clicked on his light in the darkness to see her face. She lifted her hand to smear her fingers over the blood on his cheek. She said, softly, "That might scar."

"I'll live. Just won't be so pretty anymore, huh?"

She leaned up to kiss him, butterfly light. She whispered, "Still pretty."

He chuckled a little. And they realized they were both whispering. Helena was too. She whispered, "Is this really the only way?"

Leon let go of Jill reluctantly. She rolled the shotgun in her hands and offered it to him.

Curious, he lifted his brows at her. "Me? You keep it. I'm better with the pistol."

Nodding, she kept it and swung it onto her back again. She palmed her pistol and they moved down the stairs into the damp and the dark. Someone was making a raspy sound of breathing. She realized it was Leon and caught his arm.

She turned her light to his face. Jill queried, "What? Not a fan of sewers?"

He laughed a little.

"The last two times I was in the sewers I faced an alligator as large as a school bus and some kind of enhanced monster with claws that tried to cleave my head from my shoulders. Turns out sewers and I aren't friends."

Helena whispered, _"IT_ lived in the sewers too right? That clown from that Steven King story?"

Jill glanced at her wryly. Leon gave her a bland stare.

Helena laughed weakly, "Sorry. Sorry. That is NOT helping anything. Nope. Not helping."

Leon shook his head and had to laugh. He had to. It was ridiculous. "If there is a clown in this sewer, I'm going to force feed it one of its floppy shoes."

Jill chuckled softly, "Would you punch it in its squeaky red nose?"

Leon snorted. "That's the Chris Redfield special, dollface. I'll just shoot it."

They cleared the dark tunnel and emerged in the stinky, moldy, rotten stench filled sewer lines. The smell of old garbage and human waste swelled up around them like the worlds worst perfume. Helena crinkled her nose and Jill shuddered.

Leon said, "Do NOT fall down in here. It's like the Bog of Eternal Stench. You dip one toe in it, you'll smell forever."

Jill paused to look at his face. He glanced at her and lifted his brows.

"What?"

"You are something. Did you just reference _Labyrinth?"_

He held her look. "….no?"

"You did. You total geek." She wanted to kiss him until she was breathless. Being in the sewer, surrounded by the rotting stench of the undead, stagnant water, and the feces of others put a damper on the need for it. "I'm on to you, Leon Kennedy. You're a geek in three thousand dollar designer clothes."

He grinned at her in the soft light. "Like me, do you?"

"I do. I really really really do."

She laughed and they moved forward, clearing as they moved. The sewer was relatively safe. Rats scurried, they hurried, they squeaked. But they didn't find any trouble waiting for them. They stepped out into the maintenance chute for the subway and were still without trouble.

Maybe they'd get lucky here?

And then they heard it.

Growling.

The darkness was lit by shimmering eyes. It flickered with trashcan fires in the distance. There was the shimmer and crackle of electricity from broken lines. And dogs.

There were dogs.

Everywhere.

Fifteen, twenty…thirty. Dogs. Packs of dogs. Apparently, the strays under the city were all living here and all infected. They growled, they rotted, they gathered. Exposed muscle and sinew, glinting bone and pus, dripping blood and rot. They were horrifying.

Helena lifted her gun.

Jill shook her head and jacked a shell into the shotgun.

She blasted the first one that charged and Leon braced.

The second one got a clean shot in its leaping face. He dropped low and the third one that leapt was met with his boots as he rolled to his back, stuck his feet into it, and threw it up and out. Jill blasted two more and Helena drove her knife into another while it yelped and squealed.

Where two fell, four took its place. They were in desperate trouble here.

There was a chugging sound in the distance. Leon glanced at Jill, she glanced at Helena…and lights began to flicker down the far tunnel. Bodies started running and lumbering toward them. The dogs gathered closer, forcing the three of them against the wall.

Jill blasted two more and the sound of a train horn filled the tunnel.

Leon said, softly, "What the fuck!?"

And the train burst around the corner on its rickety track. There was a squeal of metal as it cornered sharply and smashed into bodies at it went. Dogs scattered and went down, splattered and bursting with blood. Bone crunched; yelping and whining and screaming filled the tunnel. Leon threw Helena against the wall and she flattened. Jill threw herself against him and flattened them both together.

The wind rushed, the world ran white and loud with flashes of light and barreling speed. The wind tossed their hair and the train thundered passed them. It passed inches from Jill's back, it tried to take Helena's nose. It was THAT close.

Leon looped his arms around Jill and pulled her into him so tight it left her breathless. She slid her hands around his back and into his pants and gripped his ass. And as the train rushed passed, so close, so scary, so loud…she could hear him let out a laugh into her ear. The flash of spinning lights lit the tunnel and she turned her face. His hair was being thrown around like a tornado. He turned his cheek and she took his laughing mouth with hers.

It was a good kiss. It was an INSANE kiss. It had no place here amongst the smell of copper and the squeal of metal INCHES From death. It had no place while they balanced the line between life and death. But weren't they always?

 _What the fuck? Why not?_ He opened his mouth and let her take it with her tongue. And she took something else with it. She took the edge of panic and hopeless that had been trying to eat him since he'd put a bullet in his oldest friend. She took that into her mouth while the wind rushed and the world burst with speed and sound and death. She took his pain and spilled the want of her into his blood like healing light.

She drew back and it warmed her chest to see that look on his face. The rage, the grief, the regret – it was still there but it was mixed now with the humor and the need. She liked the need. She felt it too. She felt it for him.

The train rocketed passed finally, rickety and clackety on its tracks. Helena heaved out a gasp of fear and shuddered. Jill let go of Leon reluctantly and stepped back from him. He watched her, amused and grateful for her. She didn't let you linger there in your pain for long. This girl…she just jerked you out of your misery and made you remember what you were fighting for.

 _Not alone_ , his brain said, _you're not alone now. Don't you see? She's here to remind you that you're not in this alone this time. Where would you be if she wasn't here?_ Probably still kneeling on the floor in Adam's blood.

He'd started to question the fight lately. It had had felt like a road that never ended. It was watching people die and bleed and burst apart. It was waking up alone and looking for someone, anyone, who wanted to hold your hand when the night was long and the world was hopeless. He'd started to turn his head toward retirement.

In this moment? He didn't want to retire. He wanted to fight forever…as long as she was there to fight beside him.

No wonder Chris Redfield never wavered, never backed down, and never gave up. It was HER. She was the fight. She was the drive. She was the purpose. She offered you hope when there was none. She offered light when the dark was everywhere. She was it. She was why you kept fighting.

Because Jill Valentine was standing beside you.

He'd known her for one whole day. And it was the best day he'd ever had. EVER. Ever. Because she just slid into him and took away his pain. And filled him with her hope.

They moved up the tunnel together, quickly. They cleared as they move. The train had left a mess in her wake. She'd left blood and guts and splatter. She'd also cleared the way for them. So that was the positive part. They had a subway train for an ally.

Helena said, "There was no one driving it."

Curious, Leon met her eyes in the darkness. She nodded. "No one."

Leon glanced at Jill. "Zombie Express."

Jill nodded a little. "Let's get out of here. Quickly."

They leapt up onto the platform by the train car that was now silent. It was still hissing with the release of gears and hydraulic brakes. It smoked a little. They moved toward the dropped shutter that would take them to the street. Leon could hear the beating on the side.

Jill looked at his face. "Over run?"

"Without a doubt."

"You want to push on to the next exit?"

He opened his mouth to answer and the door of the subway train was kicked loudly. A heavy set woman in a bloody pink t-shirt was slapping the doors. She shouted, "HELP ME OUT OF HERE! HURRY!"

Helena pried open the doors and the woman spilled out. She rushed for the shutters.

Leon tried to grab her, "HEY! DON'T!"

But she hit the button and heard the click and clunk of gears with a rusty peel of noise as it started rising. "BENNY! I'm coming! BENNY!"

Hands grabbed her from beneath the small opening as the shutter rose.

Leon shot into the hands but it didn't matter. They pulled her under while she screamed. They could hear her screaming and the crunch and rip of flesh. They could hear her gurgling and gasping. They could hear them eating her.

EATING her.

The shutter jerked and stopped, halfway up.

And the zombies came through the opening. They moved together. They started stomping and kicking and crushing skulls. They shot, they stabbed, they stomped. The ones that didn't die in the crawling, died by a knife in the head.

Finally, the silence was loud.

Leon ducked under and cleared the other side.

Helena and Jill followed and they moved toward the street above.

The moment the doors opened, they heard the screaming. The city was on fire. Everywhere you looked, it burst with flame and smoke and death. Inky clouds of acrid stench curled upward like hungry tongues. People ran and fell, dying and turning and dying again. People fired into them, screaming, and fleeing and failing. Cars flipped and caught fire in squeals of metal and smoke.

It was hell on earth.

They hurried toward a group of survivors making a stand near the gas station in the center of town. A cop, a girl, a guy with a mohawk…and the little boy from the street. They ran in to join the fray. No time to greet, to meet, or make friends. They fought, shouting, shooting. The girl was crying. The mohawk guy was shouting at her to shut the fuck up.

"Help me!"

"NO! Fuck you!"

"PETER! PLEASE!"

And a semi came toward them. It blew its horn. It hit a group of cars and burst with fire. It barreled at the gas station. Jill shouted. Leon grabbed her and dove. Helena grabbed the boy and did the same.

The rolled, the semi hit the gas pumps in a rush and burst of screaming brakes and ripping metal. The gasp pumps were torn free from the ground and gas geysered up into the flickering sky with a BURST of sound. There was a WHOOSH and a WHOMP of pressure and the exposed fuel ERUPTED in a volcano of fire.

The world shifted, the world exploded, the sky split with fire and fear and death. Bodies were blasted free like macabre confetti, blood splashed in pink mist as corpses were instantly obliterated, monsters fell and burned and stank. Humans did the same, reduced to melting flesh and bone like candle wax that burned.

"GET IN HERE!"

A man was gesturing from a gun shop across the street.

They raced toward it. The girl was crying. The little boy was helping her. "Peter" the douche with the mohawk shoved her aside and ran. The cop was muttering, "My first DAY and I'm in the middle of a fire fight."

With sympathy, Leon slapped his shoulder as they ran. "I feel ya buddy."

They slammed the door to the gun shop and everyone scattered, stumbled, and collapsed to relearn to breathe. The girl was sobbing loudly. The little boy was standing there, stricken and pale. Peter was laughing like a loon.

The cop turned to him. "Thank you. I'm Carl."

"Leon. This is Helena and Jill."

Carl nodded. "Let's get to the roof. This way."

The gun shop was raided. There were scattered rounds on the floor that Jill gathered for her shotgun. Leon picked up an assault rifle and cleared as he grabbed two magazines from the floor and started collecting stray ammo.

At the top of the stairs, a voice called. "Beat it! You're not coming in!"

The door was locked. They were stuck in the shop. Leon replied, "Don't be an idiot, let us in!"

"No! Go away!"

The front window of the shop exploded with glass. The girl in their rag tag group screamed. Leon turned back and the shop started to fill with the undead.

Beyond the door, the man there shouted, "Clear them out and I'll let you in!"

With no choice, they turned back.

And prepared to make a desperate stand.


	5. Ground 5

**Battle Royale**

 **Tall Oaks 2013**

* * *

The building fairly shook with the bombardment of undead that began to poor, like putrid party crashers, through the shattered windows. The girl was screaming. The little boy huddled at the top of the stairs by the locked door. Peter, the douche, was firing and laughing madly.

Carl the cop hurried back down the stairs and started picking them off. Jill changed the shotgun for her pistol and ranged herself behind the counter to help. Helena shifted to the base of the stairs to protect the boy at the top and help in the battle.

Leon lifted the assault rifle and blew away two of them tumbling through the broken frame of the closest window. He hurried forward to kick them clear and dangle their bodies over the frame. Another lunged and he shot it, watching it fall atop its dead brethren.

Jill glanced over and froze. She froze, watching him. He was building a barricade of dead in the window. He was utilizing their bodies to make a pile and prevent them from getting into the shop. She'd heard that too, that he was brilliant. That was he practically a genius. She'd heard that.

She watched him block the first window with dead and turn to the next. And she shifted, tracked him, and helped. She shot one inches from his face and it splattered blood on him. He shifted, grabbed the corpse and looped it over the window. Jill plugged another one that lunged for him while he lifted the heavy corpse. He glanced at her and winked.

Amused, she fired at the adjacent window to start the process there. When her pistol clicked empty, she rushed forward with her knife. Her boot came up to smash into the chest of a snarling zombie and she drove her little knife into its left eye. It slumped, she staggered, and Carl the cop grabbed it to throw it on the window. Smart cop, he got the plan too.

Jill shifted to stuff another corpse in the window and something outside in the flickering firelight caught her attention. It shifted, shivered, and stepped into view. A zombie..maybe…but it didn't stay one. It split like ripe fruit and burst with blood and fluids. It turned itself inside out and boney protrusions erupted from its torn flesh like spikes.

Peter the douche let out a shout of fear and leapt out the closest window. The girl screamed and Peter shouted, "I'm out of here! You fucking losers can rot in there!"

Jill watched him run. And the thing with the dripping muscle and spikes grabbed him and screamed in his face. He fell, shouting, and crab walked in reverse on the ground trying to run. It leaped. It leaped up and landed on him and it drove its thousand teeth into his face while he squealed high and desperate.

Blood erupted, spraying skyward in a crimson wash. It feasted on him and ripped its jaws back, tearing his face from his head with a horrible, warbling, ear splitting cry. Peter…continued to scream. He screamed, so high it hurt the ears. He screamed without a face, with eyes lolling in naked sockets on bone stained red with blood and torn muscle. He screamed…and Jill jumped as a gun went off close to her.

Peter's head exploded in a burst of brain and gore. Leon stood beside her, so calm. So calm. He didn't look terrified. He didn't look anything. He looked resolute. And he'd put Peter out of his misery while she'd stood there, horrified.

He grabbed another corpse and tossed it over the window.

Jill shifted, watching the girl on the ground who was sobbing madly now.

Carl the cop threw another body on the pile and the spiked monster leaped. It leaped off the very dead Peter and burst through the final window. It landed on the floor and skidded, roaring. Jill shot it in that screaming mouth without a single thought.

It lifted its arm and smashed it into her. She was lifted up and tossed, thrown across the room to the hit the row of guns there and tumble down in a crash of sound. The girl huddling there grabbed Jill and dragged her under the desk. Sobbing, frightened, and she was trying to protect Jill.

It was touching…if a little misplaced. But she couldn't know how she was trying to save here. There was no way.

Leon peppered it with the assault rifle while it screamed. It leapt again, spraying blood, and landed on him even as he went to his back under the weight of it. It took them across the floor on a slip and side of blood. They hit the wall and it screamed into his face while the assault rifle was trapped between them. On the floor, crushed beneath it, Leon threw his hand to the side and grasped through the broken glass of the display there. His fist closed around the hilt of a machete and jerked it free. The glass cut his hand and spilled his blood.

The thing paused in its screaming to scent it. It warbled, screaming, and drove its mouth toward his face. Jill shouted and he heard her shotgun go off. But there were too many zombies between them now. Leon felt those teeth scrape his face and he humped his body up, hugged the nasty monster close, felt the spikes on it puncture through his jacket and scrape his skin beneath, and he drove the machete into the back of its head.

There was the crunch of bone, the echo of gunfire, the scream of the girl and the shouting of Jill. Carl the cop jerked the thing off him as it twitched, spasmed, and bled all over him. Leon scissored his legs and leapt to his feet, covered in blood, bathed in it. He looked frightening. Baptized in blood…like Raccoon City…baptized in the blood of battle.

He swung the machete like a warrior now. He drove it into the face of one, ripped it clean, and flourished it into the back of the head of the next. Jill joined him, leaping like a Valkyrie onto the back of one to stab it in the temple; dropping low and kicking the next to the ground for a sharp jab to the eye.

She was beautiful, fast, deadly, and skilled. He'd heard of her skills with that knife. She was swift, merciless. She dove, rolled, stabbed, slashed and abolished. He echoed it, kicking, spinning to knock them around when he couldn't do anything else.

Carl the cop kept on shooting. He kept on covering the windows with corpses. And finally, the room was clear, covered in blood and guts, smeared in brains and rot and filled the noxious scent of death. There was a rumble, a grumble of metal and mechanical hiss of pressure…and steel shutters slammed down fast, sharp, and immediate over the broken windows. Snap, snap, snap…silence.

No more roar of fire, no more pouring rain, no more thunder and lightning…the complete absence of sound was startling. Carl slumped on the wall, breathing. The girl on the ground was crying softly now. Helena had protected the boy without flinching. Her fear of earlier had taken a back seat to her instinct to protect.

Jill and Leon were covered in blood and guts. They looked like they'd never get clean again. The stench was awful in the room and worse on their bodies. She turned to him, breathing heavy.

"You're alright?"

His face was half covered in blood. His blonde hair was pink with it. His beautiful jacket was slick with it and the red shirt beneath the black was a perfect mirror. Her lacy white dress was brown with old blood, red with new, pink with it in places. Her blue eyes looked awesome beneath all the red.

He laughed a little and coughed from the pressure on his chest from the thing on him. Jill shifted toward him and inspected him beneath the jacket. It had gotten the skin beneath the pretty shirt with those spikes, leaving red lines of wet blood against his beautiful skin.

She touched his bloody face. "Any of that yours?"

"Nope. Well some probably from before."

Her eyes scanned his face. "Do I need to be worried about blood to blood contact here?"

"Hard to say. Seeing as it's an unknown virus we're dealing with. But the bloods on the wrong side of my face for that. So I think we're safe."

Jill touched his wounded side. "These?"

Leon shrugged. "I've never known something to infect like that. But again…can't say for sure with an unknown."

She scanned his face again. "You'll let me know if something feels off right?"

"Yep. Although this whole shit show feels off honestly. Yesterday? BEST DAY EVER. Today? Total fucking clown shoes."

Jill laughed a little and slid her arms around his waist to hold on…for just a moment.

On the stairs, a voice called, "Let's go! We're getting out of this place! Hurry!"

Jill grabbed an assault bag and started shoving ammo into it. Leon gathered up a variety of guns and anything they could find that was useful. He slipped the machete into a leather sheath and fixed it to his thigh in a holster. Jill put on a shoulder holster and put a spare 9mm in it. She looped the shotgun over her back and tossed the bag to Leon.

He slipped it over his chest and moved up the stairs with her.

Jill patted Helena on the arm as they moved. "You protected the boy. Thank you."

Silently, Helena nodded.

They reached the top of the stairs and emerged into an apartment. Two men were there with sniper rifles. The youngest one of the two was working on the sparking little fuse box beside him. He crossed two wires and the shutters clamped down on the upstairs windows as well.

The older one of the two gestured with his hands. "Come on. My daughter has a school bus waiting out here. They have an evacuation shelter set up at the Cathedral. We're all headed there."

They emerged onto the firescape and started down the rickety wrought iron stairs to the bus waiting below. They gathered on the school bus while the city burned and blistered and rotted around them. The younger man climbed behind the wheel and gunned the big diesel engine. He put it in drive and the tires spun uselessly. They tossed air and squealed as something lifted the front end of the bus clear off the ground.

The girl screamed high and loud. And the fattest…ugliest…nastiest woman ever born was there in front of the bus. She was huge. Twelve feet tall and erupting with rot and rolls and bloated. She stunk like a body left in the river in the boiling summer sun. She was graying flesh and necrosis and death. Her once red hair was peeling and plopping off her rotting face. Her enormous bloated breasts were naked and had nipples as big as dinner plates as she pressed that huge rack against the grill of the bus and tried to over turn it.

Leon grabbed the shotgun that Jill tossed him. He broke the windshield of the bus with the hilt and yelled, "Eat THIS, you ugly BITCH!"

He blasted her from the short distance with the heavy gun. It blew her bloated face, her five chins, and her rotting teeth away in a red wash. She screamed, enraged, and shoved against the bus. It released a metal groan of distress and people stumbled.

Leon blasted her again with a loud roar from the big double barreled harbinger of death in his hands. Jill shot her in the face with her 9mm for good measure. The fat nasty bobbled her hold, a zombie grabbed the girl who was screaming through an open window, and Helena shot it to save her.

The gun shop owner let out a shout as his daughter was pulled free of the window by five pairs of grappling hands. He went after her and the two of them went down under the hoard. He grabbed her close, she grabbed the grenade on his heavy vest and pulled the pin. The owner shouted, "YOU'RE ALL GOING WITH US, YOU BASTARDS!"

And the grenade went off, taking out twenty of the undead with them in a blast of sound, a whomp of pressure, and a burst of light and fire. It blew a crater into the street beneath them, it ended them quickly and painlessly, and the big fatty stumbled under another blast to the face.

She dropped the bus, the young guy hit the gas, and the bus surged forward. It spun its wheels, it threw blood and rotten flesh around like disgusting streamers. It splattered the road with rot and gore. And it crushed the big fatty beneath it in a crunching, lurching, bursting gush of grotesque destruction.

The bus rocketed forward, laying blood and rubber, and raced for the road to freedom. People collapsed into seats, gasping and crying. There was another woman on the bus now holding the boy. Helena shifted and the boy curled against her side. The crying girl took a seat beside them, sobbing softly.

The man at the wheel was wide eyed and panicking. Leon put a hand on his shoulder. "It's ok. It's alright. BREATHE. Breathe."

The young kid nodded. He nodded. And he breathed, slowly. Slowly. Slowly. "Oh my god. Oh god. This is bad man. It's really bad. How did this happen?"

Leon turned his gaze to Helena. She was wide eyed and teary. She shook her head and cuddled the boy beside her.

Jill took Leon's hand and guided him to the seat beside her.

He turned to face her and opened his communicator. Hunnigan's pretty face appeared, distressed.

"You're ok?"

"We're on a bus headed to the cathedral. They have it set up as a relief effort. Can you get some hands on deck there to help?"

Hunnigan glanced at something off screen. "Maybe. Things are weird here. I have someone VERY interested in what's in the cathedral, Leon."

"Whom?"

"Namely? Derek Simmons…The National Security Advisor. He's breathing down my neck here. Something stinks on my end. I'm not sure I can get boots on the ground to help. But I'll try. Let me know what's there ASAP."

"Will do. Thanks Hunnigan."

The silent night spilled around them as they left behind the burning city. Jill slipped her arm around his back and under his jacket. He looped his around her shoulders and cuddled her against his side. He put his cheek on her damp hair and held on.

This was something he never had either. Ever. He never had someone to care enough about him to hold him on a mission. It made it easier to face whatever happened. It made it bearable.

The quiet countryside spread out before them on the narrow road. The cathedral sat down at the base of the valley. It rested beyond the canyon, just passed the cemetery. The night obscured the view of it but in the daylight, the cemetery was beautiful. It was a testament of monuments and mausoleums and crypts offered in memory of those that had passed on to better places. Tall Oaks housed prestigious families amongst its dead. It was the alma mater of the President of the United States, the former stomping ground of the most powerful man in the Western World. There were Kennedys buried there as well.

Leon had visited family there throughout his life. He was familiar with it. He was familiar with the church. He couldn't figure out what could possibly be hiding there. He couldn't figure out why Helena Harper wouldn't just tell them what it was.

They eased down the long road at a good clip. The kid behind the wheel was relaxed now and breathing. Someone was talking quietly in the back.

Jill shifted her body closer to him. He nudged her face up with his thumb and dropped his mouth to kiss her. She started to lean back and he sunk into the kiss. Instead, she made a little sound of want of pushed closer to him. He gave her a few moments of that skin prickling sin she'd laid on him in the tunnels. He took away the fear for both of them – just for a moment.

They finally drew apart with a sigh of regret. He rubbed their noses together and stole her heart. She said, "Maybe this is why we never met before. We meet, we fuck –"

"Four times in twenty four hours."

And now she laughed a little. "Four times, we fuck. And we end up tits deep in a zombie apocalypse. Are we cursed?"

He opened his mouth to answer and the boy behind the wheel gasped, "Oh GOD. OH GEEZUS SAVE US!"

Leon got to his feet and the road was over run with zombies. The kid jerked the wheel to avoid them and Leon shouted, "Don't! The road is too narrow –"

And the bus over rotated. Someone screamed, the bus spun out, and it hit the edge of the embankment to the canyon. It half dangled over the side and spun its wheels.

It might have stayed there but the ground was weak and wet from the rain. It shifted, it slid, Leon grabbed Jill and shouted, "It's going to flip. It's going to go over the side! Grab on, hold on, and BRACE YOURSELVES!"


	6. Ground 6

**\- The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round-**

 **Tall Oaks Cathedral 2013**

* * *

Jill pressed herself into the seat, Leon wrapped his arm around the side and the other around her, and the bus dipped backward. It might have hung on still. It might have. But a semi truck rounded the corner on the rocky road and didn't give them a shot in hell of getting back up. The horn blew. The driver was panicked and screaming but couldn't control the huge truck on the narrow turn.

There was no hope here for anything but death.

Jill whispered, "Oh my go—"

And they hit, head on. They hit. Metal roared. Metal singed. It sparked and screamed and squealed with a burst of light and steel. The jarring hit was awful. It tossed people around like bowling pins. The girl on the bus was screaming as hands grabbed her through the jagged window and ripped her free in a burst of blood and crunching.

Carl the cop tried to save her but he was grabbed from the roof that had been peeled back like someone had taken a can opener to it. Leon shot them but there were too many, too many. Too much. Zombies were pulling them out one at a time now. They were piling on the front of the bus, the top. And the weight was too much.

Everything went slow motion. The bus slid and flipped, it rolled, and rang with screaming metal. They were tossed into the ceiling, thrown against the side. It plummeted, spinning tires, throwing mud and squealing.

Leon hit the roof and slid. It jarred his shoulder and stole his breath. Jill slid beside him and he caught her, flipping her over. Zombies were on the bus now. They were coming toward them even the bus kept on falling, even as it tumbled, even as they rolled. He pulled his pistol, she echoed it and they started firing even as they braced for death.

One grabbed her cowboy boot and started biting. Leon kicked it clean in the face and the bus rolled, pitched, and threw it on top of him. He shot it in the eye while being sandwiched into the ceiling. He shot it upside down and falling.

He hit the floor, grunted, and was sucked up toward the missing roof by momentum and gravity. Jill screamed and grabbed him, she threw her body on him and pinned him to the wall. The bus flipped fast, fast, horrible. A zombie dove for Jill where she was pressed against him.

He lifted his hand against the force of the wind rushing to pin them down and shot it an inch from her head. It kept on coming at them, dead, and deadly in its own way still. It smashed into them and threw him against the wall of the bus so hard it rang through his body like being hit by a car.

Jill was sucked sideways. He grabbed her, pushed against the force of the world rushing, and kept her in the toppling bus. He smashed into the roof, protected her face from the jagged steel, and smashed his face into the seat of the bus as they rolled once more.

He lost his grip on her and she was jerked clear of him. He shouted her name. She tried to hold on…and she was sucked out the roof of the bus.

"NO!"

His cry was lost in the madness. His hands grabbed for her, missed, missed...missed. She slipped through his fingers and was gone.

The force of the bus smashed him hard, hard, hard into the seat three times.

And everything went black.

He awoke to the soft sound of crying. His head rang, nausea rolled in his stomach. The smell of fire and burning flesh was acrid. His eyes fluttered and opened.

Helena and the boy were kneeling on the ground beside him. The boy was patting his cheeks gently. Helena was crying softly.

His head swam. Leon shifted his body to check for broken bones. He was bruised, sore, but otherwise seemed intact. Helena, the boy, and him were clear of the burning bus. It was a bonfire of light and death. It licked red and yellow flames into the inky darkness.

They were at the base of the canyon now, in the cemetery. Leon sat up slowly, feeling the world tilt a little. The boy was wiping his hands over Leon's jacket and face, dusting him off. Touched by it, Leon patted his head gently.

And then he realized something.

It was only the three of them.

They were the only ones sitting there.

There was no one else. No one.

No one else.

No…Jill.

Gruffly, he asked, "Where is Jill?"

The boy shook his head. Helena shook her head, crying softly.

Leon shook his too, denying. He rolled to his feet, staggering a little. "Where…is…Jill?"

They stared at him, crying. No.

Stupid faces. Stupid lies. He turned to the burning bus. No. She was around here. She was here. She wasn't dead. That was just stupid.

But she'd been sucked out of the bus.

His stomach knotted. His head swam. He moved toward the fire and staggered, went to one knee, and put his hand on the ground breathing sharp and fast. He was going to vomit. He was going to throw up from it. The pain? No. The fear. Where was she?

Where was Jill Valentine?

Leon advanced on the fire like he'd walk through it to find her. He wouldd. He would walk through fire to find her. He'd never met anyone like her. He'd never felt anything like he felt when she was near him. He didn't know what it was. Love? A stupid word. A simple word. A girly word. It poured from the mouths of teenagers that stood in the rain and giggled and groped in dark seats and made googoo eyes.

This wasn't love. It was something else. Something. It was instant. It had taken a bite of them both in a single afternoon. She made him laugh, touched him and stole his breath, kissed him and stole his soul. What was it about her? Was it the taste of her? The sound of her? The spill of her hair on his chest as she rose above him and fucked his stupid?

It was. And it wasn't. And it was more and less and everything. And that kiss in the tunnel. The hope. The healing. The steadfast solidarity that spilled from her eyes and her hands and her smile. She would never leave him.

And he wouldn't leave her in that fire to roast. He wouldn't leave her there to die.

He rushed toward it now at a limp.

The fire flickered hot and too close. He was too close to the blaze of it. Hands grabbed him to pull him back. He shook them off and shoved them away. He tried to rise and stumbled.

Those hands grabbed him and turned him. He went to shove them away and it was ok. It was ok. Because it was Jill grabbing him. It was Jill trying to stop him from leaping into the fire to find her.

She grabbed his face. She was bruised and bloody and breathing. And that face of hers. That look. It was horror and hurt and healing. It was all three somehow. It was a reflection of his, he was sure of it.

She breathed his name, "Leon..." Like she could say it a thousand times and day and have it be anything less than everything. Would he ever tire of hearing it from her? Would he ever tire of feeling her there beside him? The pain of the night would wear on. It would test them, tire them, take them places they'd never recover from..and it would be ok. It would be ok. Because she was THERE. And they would never be alone while the other rushed into the fire to save them.

He dragged her to him and spilled to one knee to hold on to her. She crouched, holding on to him. She stroked his hair. "It's ok. I'm ok. Are you? Are you ok?"

He put his face to her neck. He breathed. "I'm ok. I'm ok now."

Touched, feeling the shift in her chest for him, Jill lifted his face to stroke it. His communicator beeped and he opened it. Hunnigan held his eyes on it.

"Leon! Oh my god! Are you trying to give me apoplexy?"

Leon laughed a little, brokenly. "We lost…most of the survivors. It's only us and a little boy."

"….Leon, the infection rate for Tall Oaks is 90%. That's…over 70,000 infected. That's how many hostiles are there. You need to move. You need to move NOW. And you need to get out of there."

Leon nodded and rose. Jill kept her arm around him. He said, softly, "We're going to the cathedral now, Hunnigan. Whatever is there? We'll find it."

"Hurry! And stop trying to scare me to death. And Leon...Neo-Umbrella is claiming responsibility for the attack on the President. You know what that means?"

Jill and Leon held eyes in the flickering firelight. He spoke, softly, "It's another Raccoon City."

Hunnigan answered him, her lovely countenance set in lines of concern, "You know how that ended, Leon. It won't be long before they order sanitation on Tall Oaks. HURRY."

She clicked off. Jill curled her fingers into his dirty shirt. "They'll blow this town apart, Leon. We need to find the answers and get out of here. We need someone to evacuate all the people that may have survived. Give me a minute and let me put a call in to the BSAA."

Leon nodded and watched her move away from him. He heard her speaking quietly. She was adamant. She was animated. She glanced at him and held his gaze. She spoke again.

There was a tugging on his pants leg. It drew his attention. The little boy took his hand and held it. Leon glanced down at him. He was dirty and pale beneath his coppery skin. He was coffee with three creams in coloring with bright green eyes. There was too much intelligence on such a little face.

It made Leon's heart hurt looking at him. _Where is your mommy? Where is daddy? How did you end up here with me? And what can I do to keep you safe? How can I protect you from something I can't see?_

He said, softly, "I'm Leon Kennedy."

The boy said, "I'm Ben."

He was maybe five years old. Helena took his other hand. Jill covered them as they moved through the pouring rain toward the cathedral at the back side of the cemetery. The dark made it dangerous and slow. The rain washed away the stench and blood on them with its cold fingers. Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed.

In silence, they reached the far gate to the courtyard of the cathedral. It was locked but Jill leapt over it to pick the lock. With a rusty sound of metal, they were through the gate into the courtyard. The doors opened and a woman gestured, "Hurry!"

And they did. They hurried inside.

Leon saw all the eager faces around them and said, softly, "I'm sorry. We're not rescue aid workers."

The doors sealed at their backs. The inside was clean and warm and quiet. At least thirty people were there huddled and waiting. Helena took Ben to the closest person offering water and medicine. Leon shifted to another aid station and a little teenage girl had him slip off his jacket while she checked him over for wounds.

She treated him, patched him up, and moved to Jill.

When they were fed and watered, patched and tended to, they sat near the altar, taking a moment to relearn how to breathe. Jill shared a bottle of water with him.

Ben had fallen asleep on the floor beside them with his head on Leon's thigh. Touched by the way the boy stuck to him, Leon stroked his soft hair while he slept. Jill kept watching his face.

"What?"

"You said children don't like you."

Leon laughed a little, softly. "They don't, usually."

"He likes you."

"It's the savior complex."

Jill studied his face. Leon held her eyes. "What is in that beautiful head?"

She lifted a hand to stroke his face. His cheek had a little butterfly bandage on it. She could see the fine hairs of a beard starting on his chin. She touched them now. "You. I'm on to you, Leon Kennedy. The Star Wars nerd. The Jim Henson nerd. The guy who likes kids and lies about it. I see right through you."

He turned his head and kissed her palm. She put her head on his shoulder.

Helena was talking with several other survivors. After a moment, he realized that Jill had fallen asleep against him. Touched, he cuddled her against his body even as he felt something warm and soft shift inside his belly. The little boy sleeping beside him, the girl cuddled against him…a good picture…if it wasn't for the zombies and the destruction that blazed all around them.

Helena crouched in front of him. "There's an entrance to the lab down there behind the statue."

Leon blinked and rotated his head. He glanced at the statue. Helena nodded a little at him.

"You're not kidding." He remarked, drolly. Of course not. Why not put a lab in a church? Fucking Umbrella. It never failed to surprise him how truly soulless the last gasps of that perverse Frankenstein could be.

"Yeah. Exactly. What you want? It's down there."

He held her look. "What about what you want, Harper?"

Helena said, softly, "It's down there too. Help me and I will tell you everything. All of it. Every ugly detail."

They held gazes again. And he asked, "Did you get the President killed?"

Helena answered, gently, "You'll have to decide that for yourself…when I show you."

She glanced at Jill and Ben. Leon shifted them against him a little. Helena picked up Ben in her arms and cradled him. He curled against her.

She said, "For now? Take a minute. Take a nap. I'm going to put him over here and try to figure out how to get the statue to move. Reboot. It'll be a long night."

Leon shifted and settled back against the wall. Jill curled more against him, snoring softly. Amused, he turned his cheek to her head and closed his tired eyes. Just a minute, he mused, just a second before the world came back to kill them.

Her arm curled around his back and over his hip. He lifted one knee and she looped her ankle over his. And he slipped into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

He awoke to the sounds of people speaking softly. The dream of her swirled around him, soft and pleasant. Her hair smelled like lilac and lavender and summer. The spill of sunlight on her skin turned it a golden tan. Her eyes were so blue beneath the dark waterfall of her hair that it stole your breath to look at them.

He lowered his mouth to kiss her and the dream fractured and broke apart. His gritty eyes opened and he was alone, leaning against the wall. He shifted and Jill wasn't next to him anymore…but Ben was. Ben was curled up under his arm and sleeping against his dirty jacket.

In sleep, Leon had curled his arm around the boy and held him close. Ben's hand was tucked around his waist and his soft cheek was on his chest. Leon lifted his other hand and smoothed the dirty hair off his forehead. He was a handsome boy. Did he have family to take him? Had his family been on that fucking bus? A baby that had seen his family eaten. How would he come back from that?

Across the room, Jill and Helena had been discussing the lab beneath the cathedral. They knew they needed to solve the puzzle to open the way. They'd found one Madonna statue and were trying to locate the other. Jill glanced back to see Leon had awoken. She watched his face as he looked down at the boy…and she saw the moment he stroked a finger over his little snoring cheek.

Something in her belly shifted hard and lodged there. Children don't like me, he'd said, but it wasn't that at all. Had he ever, in the whole time he'd been fighting, stopped to look at one? Had he ever, in all the years since Raccoon City, stopped to consider them at all?

She was relatively sure she couldn't have them. Even if they survived this, she couldn't give him children. Did he want them? She'd known him barely two days. It was impossible to know what kind of man he was. And yet it wasn't. He was noble and funny and charming and handsome. He was sexy and selfless and strong. He was a GOD with a weapon and brilliant at thinking on his feet. And he was soft.

Soft.

It was all over him as he leaned there against the wall holding a little kid against him. He was soft. She doubted there'd been much time for softness in his life. She wanted nothing more than to give it to him. She wanted nothing more than to SHARE it with him. She'd only known him for two days.

She'd known him all her life.

Leon Kennedy: Raccoon City survivor. Warrior. Wounded soul. They were the same.

She'd only known him for two days.

Jill said, softly, "Give me a minute, Helena. Ok?"

And she moved toward him.

He glanced up as she crossed the cathedral. His smile was utterly charming and disarming and sheepish. "Is it wrong to not want to move? If I move, I'll wake him up. Seems like someone should get to sleep peacefully right?"

Jill crouched over his leg. He had one up and bent at the knee, the other flat on the ground so Ben could hug him. She slid her hand over the one that rested on his bent knee. She slid the other into his hair at the back of his neck and turned him to her mouth.

It was, in a way, their first kiss. It was backed by something real and very scary. It wasn't lust or need or fast. It was softer, scarier, and more complicated than that. They were both dirty, both smelly, both exhausted. They were nowhere near the end of their harrowing journey and tired, hungry, and lost. They had no answers and no hope and no guarantees…and they had each other.

Leon's hand shifted off his knee to slip around the back of her neck and echo the touch of her on him. He turned her into him and she spilled a little against his chest. No tongues. No greed. This was mouth and movement. It was the beginning of something so much deeper than that.

Love?

It was something.

They'd only known each other for two days.

They separated to look into each other's eyes. Jill said, softly, "I like how you look with a kid beside you, Leon Kennedy."

And that smile. His smile. It warmed her heart to see it bloom. "Yeah? Biological clock ticking huh? You want to have my babies, Jill Valentine?"

Her face was so serious. It stole his breath for a moment. She seemed to be considering it. He realized, maybe, he'd like her to have his babies. He'd never given much thought to babies. He'd never considered, until two days ago, what came after the sword. Was it her? Was it her and babies?

She said, "I think we should try making dinner together before we talk about babies, you devil. You in a hurry for puke and diapers?"

He laughed, softly, "Can't say I am. How about we survive this, find a nice dark corner…and pretend to make babies instead?"

She leaned forward to press their mouths together again, smooth. "Hmm. That's the best idea I've heard all night. I'd love to let you sit here all night with an adorable toddler curled against you…but I think I need your help to get into the lab."

"Right. Duty calls. No time for baby making." She looked so sad it actually made him laugh. "We get a five minute window, I'll show you how I make babies, Jill Valentine."

And now the humor on her face eased something painful between them. "Oh. Five minutes? You sweet talker. I'll take my panties off in anticipation and be ready for you."

She was in that little dress and boots. He shifted his gaze and pictured her in that little dress without panties. His laugh was a little breathy. "Deal. But you go up every single ladder first. Got it?"

Jill snorted out a laugh, grateful for it. His humor. It was ALMOST as gorgeous as his face. Almost…but not quite. "Enough dirty flirty, Kennedy. Come do your job."

"…fine. But I'd rather do you. Just so were clear." He shifted Ben to lay him gently on one of the pews. Ben kept right on snoring. He got to his feet and his knee creaked.

Amused, Jill lifted a brow.

"What? I'm old. My shit pops and creaks. I'm like the tin man. I need oiled and rubbed down occasionally."

The second he said it, he knew what she'd say back.

"I would love nothing more than to oil and rub you down, old man. I promise you."

It was so good to laugh. So good. He still could, which was saying something. It was HER. She made him laugh. She gave him the ability to do that in the middle of the worst possible situation. She lightened the load of it. They kept each other laughing. The flirting was light and fun. It was HER.

How could he do this without her?

Helena was waiting atop the second floor balcony that run the length of the cathedral. Leon made a cradle from his hands, Jill stuck her boot in it, and he tossed her up the broken ladder. She swung up and moved to kick the emergency ladder down to him.

Helena was holding the Madonna statue in her hand. It looked sad. Why was it sad? It was red. Jill was stepping into a room on the top floor. He could hear her digging through a box.

Helena queried, "You get some sleep?"

"A little. You?"

"No. But I'm fine. These red statues clearly go on those red bases there and there," She gestured to the far sides of the balcony on either end, "Why? Hopefully it opens the door to the lab. Jill and I have been looking but we can't find the other statue."

"These fucking people. Always some stupid puzzle." Leon held the little statue and stared at its sad face. Who could blame it? He'd be sad too if he was trapped forever in a place where there was nothing but puzzles and death. Who was he kidding? He kinda was.

Jill emerged from the room with the little statue. "Boom. Had to pick the lock on the box in there. But this is it."

Leon eyed it. "Don't these people know there's only one Madonna?"

Helena nodded, "The virgin Mary. Naturally."

"Actually I meant the one that sings Like a Virgin and had me pretty much sleeping in wet sheets for most of my adolescence. You can thank that cone bra of hers for helping usher a boy into manhood. I certainly did…pretty much every night for a year."

Helena blinked.

Jill snorted out a laugh.

And Leon coughed a little, "Right. Focus. Seems I'm having a case of verbal diarrhea. Let's blame the lack of caffeine, the adrenaline, the horror and the beginnings of some pretty awful PTSD."

He turned to take the statue to the far side. Helena, smirking, ran to the other on the closest end. Jill went with Leon, lips pursed and amused.

He studied the little statue in his hand and sat it on the pedestal that waited, red and eager, before them. Jill said, as something clicked and rolled close to them, "For the record?" She leaned close to his ear as he watched the alter on the main floor shake and begin to separate, "…I had that cone bra."

Leon turned his face, holding her eyes. "…how in the HELL do you expect me to concentrate on ANYTHING when you throw that out there? You know where it is?"

Jill was grinning. "Maybe."

"You will get it when this done. You will wear nothing but that cone bra for like….a hundred days."

Jill laughed, delighted with him. "Deal. But only if you wear only a shoulder holster and boots."

Amused, his face lit up. "Fucking deal. Thigh holster too?"

"Oh yeah. That works. That WORKS. Deal deal deal."

He started to lean over to probably kiss her and someone on the main floor shouted. There was a garbling, chittering, wet snarfling sound from the open altar. Horrified, people began to scatter, shouting.

Leon glanced at her. "BEN!"


	7. Ground 7

_A/N: Moving smoothly toward China. What waits within the crypt? We know the answer. Let's see if our hapless crew of heroes can find out._

* * *

- **Tits are the Enemy-**

 **Tall Oaks Cathedral - Simmons Family Crypt 2013**

* * *

He didn't stop. He leapt over the railing and landed on the top of a bookshelf. It groaned and down he went, rolling to the floor when he landed. He was running toward the front pew where the boy slept. "BEN!"

The little boy awoke, rubbing his eyes. Leon grabbed him and lifted him onto his hip…and the ugliest thing ever came stumbling, shambling, and farting out of the altar opening. It was a fat blob with thirty farting buttholes or spurting tits dangling off its massively warped body. It wiggle walked as it ran with tentacles coming out of its bisected face. No, wait, Leon thought madly, it wasn't tentacles. It's face had split open like a flower who's petals had found the sun. It had a slimy red tongue and some kind of exposed squishy organ in its mouth. A heart?

He didn't wait to find out. He ran with Ben on his hip and Jill threw her hands down. He tossed the boy up. She caught him and Leon turned back with his gun raised. The tit monster threw that nasty gas as it walked and people gagged, people scrambled, people fell…and people turned.

Jill shouted to him, "Leon! The gas! Give me your hands!"

He turned and leapt. She caught his hands and jerked him up. When he reached the edge, he hoisted himself the rest of the way. Helena fired into the nasty beast.

Others were fleeing to the balcony with them. Someone was getting their face eaten on the bloody floor. Leon shot the screamer and the zombie eating them with two fast rounds. Jill grabbed Ben and ran with him across the balcony to the far doors. It was the exit that would take them to the roof of the cathedral and the bell tower. She grabbed Helena and said, "Get him up there. Get him away from here. As fast as you can. We will find you when its done."

Helena nodded and grabbed Ben to run through the doors with several other survivors. Jill beckoned to anyone there to follow. "HURRY! GO NOW!"

Leon was firing into the fat nasty beast as it tried to find a way up to them. It finally found the bookshelf on the far way. It leapt, surprisingly agile for such a fat blob, and started to ascend. Jill slammed the door on the balcony.

They were the last two in the cathedral with it now. Anyone else…was dead or turned.

Leon glanced at her. "Protect that fucking door."

"What are you talking about?"

"We can't let it get up here. We can't let it get through that door."

He started moving and Jill figured out what he meant to do. "Leon! Don't!"

But it was too late. He was running. And he was throwing his shoulder forward. Jill pushed off the door and went to one knee, sighting down her arm.

Leon caught the blob in a tackle and shoved. It squished and flopped against him, it started to fart that mist all over them, and Jill shot it right in that pulsing organ from its open petaled face. It made some kind of warbling keen and sounded vaguely like a turkeys mating call as it tumbled backward and smashed into the floor.

Leon glanced at her over his shoulder and she lifted a brow at him.

"Didn't you hear? I train with Chris Redfield. I'm a helluva a shot too."

Leon smirked a little. "Redfield, that wiener, he can hit a target but can't find an articulate sentence with two hands, a flashlight, and a Webster's fucking dictionary."

Jill grinned, big an delighted, "Really? At least he can drive. I heard you can't drive to save your life."

Leon gave her a droll look and finally laughed, he laughed, as he leapt atop the bookcase to aim down at the warbling, many boobed monster that was trying to get to its feet. Considering, still chuckling, he remarked, "You might want to kiss my ass, Valentine."

And Jill giggled.

She giggled.

Leon put two in the warbling beast and it rammed the bookshelf. He was tossed sideways, couldn't hold on, and went to the floor in a roll. He didn't wait to see if it was chasing him, he ran for the far door toward the left of the altar and threw himself inside. It jabberywocky wobble ran after him and he waited, waited, and kicked the door in front of him the moment it tried to get him. It hit the monster full in the face, sent in it reeling, and Leon swung the assault rifle off his back and hit the trigger.

Jill ran to the far side of the balcony to get an angle into the room. She dropped to her belly on the floor and aimed into the narrow doorway. The moment it cleared and stumbled, the moment she heard the rapid peppering of 5.56mm rounds smashing into it, she leaned out over the railing and aimed the shotgun at that ugly exposed organ with its row of teeth and bisected head. And she pulled the trigger while she almost dangled off the balcony.

The heavy round obliterated its face, at least what was left of it. And Leon spun a back kick at it, sent it to the floor, and finished the job with a round from his Magnum. The monster gushed, gasped, and went still after a final death spasm.

Jill called down to him, in the ensuing silence, "Did it fart on you?"

And it was the strangest question he'd ever been asked. Which was saying something about them. Leon chuckled a little, "Can't say that it did. Thank god. I usually ask a monster to buy me dinner first before I let it fart on me."

He took a photo of the monster and uploaded it to Hunnigan. He glanced around to see how many survivors they'd lost to it before it was contained. Eight. Eight more people lost to the horror that was happening here. One was the sweet girl that had treated his wounds when they arrived.

He closed her eyes and put his knife to the back of her head to make sure she didn't turn. It rolled in his guts like lead. And it sobered him up.

Why did it feel like a betrayal to laugh?

Because the dead were piling up and the questions had out stripped the answers. The President was dead and the town was decimated. The infection was rampant and getting worse. They didn't know what it was or how to stop it or if they were all, currently, infected anyway.

Leon put them together in a spare room and closed the door to give them peace. When he arrived back in the main area, it was full again of people that had come back from the safe area. He paused, considering. Were they infected?

His eyes turned to Ben, currently standing with Jill and Helena. Were they all wasting their time fighting? If they were infected, they were dead anyway. Should he stop fighting and just…wait? Should he just wait with the rest of the people to be evacuated and stuffed in a cage somewhere to turn and die?

Jesus.

Fighting was better than waiting to die, any day of the week.

He moved toward the others and Ben shifted. His little hand lifted and Leon took it, holding on. Only Jill was aware that it had been reactionary. He hadn't even thought about it…he'd just held the little boy's hand.

Helena whispered, "That was clearly put here to stop us. I'm so sorry for all of this. The answers are down there. Every single one. Are you ready?"

Leon nodded and knelt, "Ben…you need to stay here. You need to wait for the soldiers that are coming to come and take you to safety ok? You can't go with us. It's too dangerous."

Ben shook his head, denying, "I won't stay. If I stay, I die. I don't want to die. Please take me witchu. I will be good. Ok?"

Leon skimmed his thumbs over the boy's shoulders, trying to offer some comfort where there was none. He opened his mouth to protest and Jill touched him. She gestured with her head to him. "A minute?"

Leon nodded and rose, brushing his hand on Ben's cheek. The boy was so scared. He was pale beneath his perpetual tan. He didn't want to stay.

Jill took his forearm and guided him to the side. She skimmed her thumb over the inside of his wrist, an absent gesture. "We should take him along with us."

Surprised, he met her gaze. "Jill…we can't protect him like that."

"Listen…if we leave him here, there's no guarantee that anyone we've called will get here in time Leon. If they don't…and sanitation occurs…" Jill held his eyes, trying to impart what they both knew but didn't want to say, "He won't just die, Leon. He'll die here, alone, and terrified. Take him with us. He's safer with us then here. Maybe we can't protect him. But I can't leave him here to die. It's a turd or a shit sandwich, baby, but we've got to eat one."

Baby.

He studied her face and he realized he liked it. It was a good nickname. He'd never been anyone's baby before. It felt kinda funny to hear. And he actually agreed with her.

He didn't want to leave Ben behind.

Nodding, Leon turned back to the boy. He slipped his leather jacket off and poked his little arms into it, bundling him up. "It's probably gonna be cold down there. So you listen to me, Ben, because this only works if you listen. I need you to be brave. I need you to be quiet. And I need you to do anything I tell you to. Can you do that?"

Ben was nodding eagerly.

"Good. If you don't? We could die down there, Ben. I will do my best to protect you. So will Helena and Jill. But I need you to run when I say run. I need you to hide if I say hide. And I need you to leave me behind if I say to leave me."

There it was. The horror. Ben held his gaze. "Leave you?"

"Oh yeah. It may come to that. You may have to leave me. If you do? Don't look back. Don't turn around. You go forward and you don't turn back. Ok?"

Ben held his gaze, teary eyed. "….ok. Leon?"

"Yeah?"

"My Mom is dead. Isn't she?"

Leon wanted to say no. He wanted to say there was hope. He wanted to say lots of things. Instead, he said, "What do you think, Ben?"

"I think she was at work and she never came home. I sawed my babysitter get eaten. I sawed those zombies eat her." He leaned close to Leon and whispered it now, wide eyed, "I think my Mom is dead."

Leon nodded now, rubbing his little hands together. "Yeah, buddy. I think your Mom is dead too."

Ben's eyes went bigger and turned wet with tears, "I don't want her to be dead. I don't want to be alone. She was my only Mom."

Jill was trying to figure out what she felt for Leon Kennedy. It was something pretty big and pretty scary. It was something pretty encompassing and raw. And, when his eyes went misty looking at that sad little boy, it was something she knew she'd never be able to get out of her. And she was ok with it. She was kinda afraid it meant she was in love with him. Which seemed stupid after two days...but there it was.

Leon answered, so calm and strong, "I know you don't, buddy. I'm sorry. I won't leave you. I promise. Will you be strong for her now? Strong for your Mom?"

"…yes. I'm a big boy. I'm a tough boy. I will be tough like you. I promise."

Leon cupped his face and ruffled his hair. He rose, smiling, "Good man. Stick close to us and stay quiet, ok?"

"Ok. Can I say goodbye?"

"Of course, pal. Go ahead."

Ben hurried off to say goodbye to the few people he'd befriended. Helena held Leon's gaze. She said, softly, "What happens to him when this is over?"

Leon answered, quietly, "We'll find him a family. He'll be ok."

Jill shook her head. "He'll go into the system and float from home to home. No. I'll take him. We survive this…I'll adopt him. He's earned it. If he'll have me, I'll be his Mom."

She turned back to the altar and headed down the stairs toward the doors there. When she called up to him, Leon was still standing there trying to process what she'd said.  
"It's missing Madonna statues. We've got some more hunting to do to get this door open."

Helena lifted a finger to hold off questions and hurried away. Leon turned to Jill and held her gaze as she mounted the stairs back toward him. His face must have had something pretty scary on it. Because she tilted her head at him. "What?"

"What happened to the no children in our field speech you gave me?"

She arched her brows at him. "I can't have them. It doesn't mean I won't raise them. I won't turn that boy aside to live in foster homes. I'm at a point in my career that I can take a step back to an administrative role in the BSAA. Chris is the big field guy. I'm better behind a desk on some days than I've ever been in the field. I'm ok with it. If I hadn't met you, Leon, I'd be considering retiring anyway in a few years. There's only so long I can tread close to forty and not have any end in mind."

He considered her as she finished her little speech. Jill smiled at him, amused. "Leon, it's ok. You don't have to raise him with me. I'm not asking you to marry me and raise a family. We just met. This turns into something more than that, we'll talk. For now? Let's kill zombies and stay alive and focus on getting the answers. The rest of it comes later."

Helena was hurrying toward them with a set of statues. She was grinning. "While you two fought the big nasty, Ben and I found these…well…and this."

She hefted a sniper rifle in her fist and tossed it to Leon. He caught it, cleared it, and checked the scope on it. It was all done in a series of thoughtless movements. It was almost robotic. Muscle memory and response.

"Awesome. Here." He tossed Helena the assault rifle and she grinned, checking and clearing it.

She said, "Toys for everyone. You guys ready?"

They turned back to the stairs and headed down them. Ben stuck to Leon like glue. Leon reminded them as they all breathed and prepared to open the door, "Try to stay together. Try to be as quiet as possible. Helena, what are we looking at down here?"

She took a deep breath and said, "Before? A bunch of geeks in lab uniforms. I can't tell you now. God knows. Things aren't what they were a few days ago."

Leon nodded and pushed open the doors. They cleared, Leon high, Jill low and Helena at the rear. Ben stayed between as they moved through. A second into the movement, Helena made a sound.

"Oh my god."

It might have been a lab once…it was a graveyard now. There was nothing but death everywhere. Bodies littered the ground and were scattered in pieces. Jill cleared the first room they came to in the narrow, damp, and blood strewn hallway.

Helena made a small sound of regret and remorse. "It was over run. He let it get over run."

Leon turned his gaze to her face, studying her. "Who, Helena? Who is responsible for this?"

She held his eyes for a long moment and finally answered. Her answer scared him half to death, "….Simmons."

Simmons...the National Security Adviser.

The rabbit hole was deeper than he could have ever imagined.

* * *

Leon grabbed her elbow and surprised her. Helena gasped and made a sound of pain. Jill glanced up and down the hallway and touched his hand on Helena's arm. "Ease down, Leon. Ease down."

Leon hissed, "You're blaming the National Security Advisor?"

Helena shook his hand off, glaring. "Yeah. I am. He's responsible. I'm not tossing blame on him. He's the one who blackmailed me. Why? I guess we know why. He was trying to kill the President. Why? That part we don't know yet. But the answers to what he was doing? Those are here. Ok? They're here. Stop blaming me and start doing your fucking job, Leon. Find the bad guys."

Leon and Helena glared at each other for a long moment. "If I find out you're the reason for all these people...I'll turn you in and watch you burn for it."

Helena stepped in close to him, nose to nose. "The reason why doesn't matter anymore, Leon. I caused this. I didn't know. I had no choice. But I will still turn myself in when this is over. I will still stand trial. I served at the pleasure of the President. I betrayed that trust. I got people killed. I don't need YOU to tell me that I will face the music for it. I'm ready. And I'll gladly let you cuff me and take me in. But not until this is done."

Leon held her gaze for a long moment. She shifted and glanced at Ben. "I'm sorry, ok? I'm sorry for all of it. But I have to show you why. And we have to stop Simmons. We have to. Please."

Leon turned without another word and Ben stayed close to his side. It was cool in the lab. Leon wore the short sleeved black shirt and Jill had no jacket at all over the little dress she donned. They were all underdressed. Luckily, Leon's jacket was keeping Ben nice and warm.

The lab was destroyed. It was over turned and infested. They put down infected in lab coats and those in civilian attire. They moved through small hallways and around tight corners and kicked in doors that stood in their way.

As they came upon a door locked by electronic keycard, tanks could be glimpsed within the confines of the room. Leon studied one of the humanoid forms that floated in the gelatinous goop. He cocked his head, studying it.

Jill was messing with the card reader to see if she could hack it.

He said, "Jill?"

"Hmm?"

"You were held in cryostasis while in Wesker's control right?"

She glanced up at his face. It was no secret. It was well documented. Pieces of it were sealed beneath layers and layers of security but the truth was out there. They'd talked about it a little in their time together. Jill nodded, "I was. Why?"

"These things in cryo?" Leon gestured with his head at the tank they could see.

Jill studied it herself, curious. Finally, she admitted, "Could be. They look human don't they? No signs of mutation."

"Right? What the fuck is that?"

Helena came from the far room. "No luck on the keycard. To be fair, it looks like a doctor might be locked in one of the cells back there. If we can get him out, he may have what we need on him."

Leon glanced down at Ben. He glanced up at Jill. "Can you keep trying at that thing? He should stay here, where it's secure. I'll take Helena and go check the doc."

"Absolutely."

"Thanks." Leon glanced down at Ben, "Stay with Jill. And remember -"

"Stay quiet. Stay safe."

"Good man." Leon ruffled his hair and gestured with his head. He and Helena went back into the previous chamber to see about checking the doctor for the keycard.

Jill glanced down at Ben as she worked on the door. "You seem like a smart guy...want to help me?"

Ben seemed eager to help. He smiled. A good face, Jill thought, handsome. Bright green eyes and caramel skin. He clearly came from beautiful stock. She shifted over and started showing him her lockpicks. He was eager and clever and quick. Jill watched his face as he talked. She said, softly, "Ben, do you have family to live with? An Aunt or a sister maybe?"

Ben shook his head, holding one of her tumbler picks. "No. Just me and my mom...maybe not my Mom anymore...maybe..."

Jill stroked his soft hair. "Would you...like to live with me? I don't have any children. It's just me...maybe you could keep me company."

Ben studied her, considering. She felt like she was on trial for war crimes. He finally replied, "I think that would be good. Girls need protected. I will protect you."

And now she grinned, touching his dirty cheek. "I think you'd make a pretty good protector, honestly. Thank you for offering."

"Sure." Ben shrugged a little and sighed, "Um...will Leon come see me...or...?"

Jill kissed his forehead and put her cheek on his soft hair. "I think we can say yes to that, buddy. No question."

With a buzz, the locks ground and turned, releasing the door where the Doctor shambled. The locking mechanism had been controlled by a console on the platform close by. Leon braced and the door rolled up. Helena covered him as he moved into the room.

The shambling corpse of the doctor was facing the far wall. It made a sound and turned as they entered the small room.

And it wasn't a typical zombie.

It had an enormous bloated goiter on its neck. It looked like a bubbly, blood filled bullfrog pouch. It rippled and trembled as the mutated doctor breathed. Helena lifted her pistol on it and it...screamed.

Although scream was a mild word. It warbled out a rolling cry that was so loud, so high, so painful that it drove them back and had Helena throwing her hands over her ears. The walls shook, the ceiling dribbled dust down for the effort. It roared its anger at the universe from four feet away from them and nearly ruptured their ear drums with it.

Leon shot it clean in its roaring face and cut its battle cry short. It tried to run, surprisingly, and was trapped between them and the wall. It turned back to leap at them and Helena blasted its bubbling goiter with her assault rifle. Pop..pop...BURP. It exploded like a popped water balloon. It sprayed stench and goop and gobs of crap all over them as they ducked and covered.

And then it collapsed onto the floor on its face.

Helena made a sound of disgust. Leon flicked his arm to throw chunks of gross shit and rot onto the ground and moved toward the body slowly. He kicked it and it didn't move. So he knelt and raided the pockets.

The keycard was in its left one. Grasping it, he rose and followed Helena back toward the lab.

Jill glanced at their faces as they came into the hallway. "What the fuck was that?"

Shaking his head, Leon swiped the keycard. "Some other bloated freak. What's with this virus and putting protrusions that burp, fart, or spit on you?"

The door whooshed and rose, leaving them to clear as it went up. The room was filled with tanks. It was clearly where the specimens were...grown? Something. Leon moved into the room and glanced at the computer near the far wall. He queried, "Helena, this what you wanted to show me?"

"No. No...I...don't understand what any of this is."

There was a videotape tucked under file folders beside a small monitor. Leon grasped it and looked at the label on it. And then he intoned, softly, "Ada?"

The label said: Happy birthday, Ada Wong!


	8. Ground 8

**\- Happy Birthday, Ada Wong!-**

 **Whispering Pines 2013**

* * *

Leon poked it in the video player while Jill and Helena inspected the tanks filled with humans. The faces were human. They were people. Living people? Or dead people being used as guinea pigs? How could they really know?

The tape tossed static and started, flickering, on the lumpy, bumpy, goop colored black pod. The camera focused in on it, waiting. It burped, it cracked, and it split like a cracking egg. Viscous fluid spilled outward and splattered on the cold steel ground around it. A hand poked free, dripping in ectopic goop. And then an entire torso erupted free, head thrown back, spine arched, breasts jutting into the cold air.

The person spilled to the ground slick and covered in thick fluid. The face rotated, glancing at the man with the camera on it. The hair was black and chin length...and the face was Ada Wong's.

The video cut off and left them in stunned silence.

Helena said, softly, "Friend of yours?"

Leon shook his head. He shook it again. "Not exactly. What the fuck _is_ this, Helena?"

"I swear to god, I don't KNOW. Let's keep going. The answers are here. They have to be." She left the lab and hurried down the far hallway. Leon turned to meet Jill's calm gaze. Ben was poking at a tank close by.

Jill said, "Is it really her?"

"I don't know. It can't be...can it?"

Jill shrugged, studying his face. "If she is, we have to put her down. You know that."

He turned back to the videotape. Happy Birthday, Ada Wong! What did that mean? Birthday? Was she...hatched? It was hard to believe. He'd touched her. They'd done more than that once upon a time. She was alot of things...but inhuman?

It seemed surreal.

They wouldn't know the answer until they found whatever it was that waited for them in this lab. From down the hallway, Helena had started to scream.

"LEON! OH MY GOD! HURRY!"

And they were running now. They ran. The corner turned and Helena stood surrounded. She was surrounded.

And they were blocked on a narrow walkway now with nothing but hordes of the undead between them and safety. Behind them, from where they'd come, the door whooshed down and sealed...beeping red and dealing them the hand of death in a single ugly blow.

Helena glanced behind them at the only path that wasn't thirty deep with the dead. She backed up. They moved with her. Leon looked down into the abyss beside the walk way. There was no jumping. If they jumped, they'd die. If they stayed here, they died. If they fought, they'd die. They didn't have enough ammo in the world for all those zombies.

There was a trash chute on the farthest wall. Jill hurried toward it and jerked open the door. They'd fit. Easily. It was clearly meant to receive bodies.

The horde was ten feet away. There was no time for other ideas. She yelled, "Here!"

Leon leapt first into the chute, no questions. He put his arms up and Jill passed him Ben. With faith and desperation, Leon let go into the darkness. He held the little boy close to him and prayed they weren't going to head down the worlds worst slide of darkness...to pop out in a pit made of crushing death and destruction.

At this point, all they could do was hold on...and pray.

The slide flipped and rolled. It spilled them down while Ben put his face against Leon's neck and held on. Leon kept his pistol in his free hand, aimed straight down into the darkness. They hit the end of the chute and Leon went to one knee, clutching Ben to his side. He barely shifted out of the way and Helena spilled down after them.

It was catacombs, clearly. It had the dirty, musty, awful odor of the long dead. The walls were lined with stone and openings where decaying bodies lay decrepit and disintegrating. Pushed and shoved haphazardly over the narrow jagged walkway, sarcophagi waited, some with lids, some without. Leon set Ben down on his feet and rubbed a hand over his hair before he turned to look down the long, narrow, dark opening between two walls lined with corpses.

His guts cramped at the idea of treading through an entire tomb filled with dead bodies. Were they really dead? Would they just rise again? Jesus. Terrifying.

The chute made a noise and Jill spilled clear of it. She wasn't nearly as graceful as he and Helena. She spilled to her face with a grunt. Leon shifted toward her, "Hey…hey hey. You ok?"

He helped her up. Her knees and palms were torn up and oozing blood. She smiled a little, sheepishly, "So much for grace under pressure. But, in my defense, they were grabbing at me as I jumped in. I wasn't thinking about what happened next."

Leon scooped her up in his arms and, well, he kinda stole her breath with it. It was a nice feeling to be swept off her feet. He set her down on a smooth broken pillar that had collapsed on the floor to better inspect her knees. She winced when he brushed the rocks and dirt out of the weepy wounds.

Touched, she smiled at him. "I'm ok. Seriously. It's more embarrassing then painful."

He shook his head and unbuttoned his shirt. Amused, Jill watched him. Helena covered them while he moved.

Leon whipped off the buttoned shirt and grabbed the v-neck blood red t-shirt he wore beneath over his head. He stripped it off and ripped a piece off the hem. Jill figured it was probably a bad time to appreciate the muscle under that shirt. And she should NOT be thinking of how nice his chest was with goosebumps all over it.

He dabbed at her knees with a delicate touch and stole her fucking heart.

"Mr. Kennedy, it's just booboos. I'm fine."

Ben said, "I falled off my bike once. Dat's what my knees looked like. Hurts?"

Jill smiled at him, softly, "It stings. But it's all better now. Turns out, just needed the right touch."

Ben nodded sagely, "Leon made your booboos go away?"

Oh he was adorable. And he was so right. She cupped Leon's cheek and skimmed her thumb over his cheekbone. "Yeah. Leon makes my booboos go away."

There was that squishy feeling in his belly for her again. He turned his head and kissed her scraped palm. She said, softly, "Kissed and made it better. Thank you."

He held her gaze longer than he should have, given their situation. He wanted to kiss her. It shivered in his chest. He wanted to kiss her knees and the thigh above it...and what waited above that thigh. Amused, aroused, he winked at her and rose.

Leon slipped the ripped red shirt back on and threw the button up over it. He didn't bother to button it. The nice flash of red and black was catchy. And he'd just ripped a three hundred dollar t-shirt to treat her booboos. She had to appreciate him.

He patted Helena on the shoulder as he moved forward. "Thanks for the cover."

"You bet. What the FUCK is this place?"

Jill, one hand on Ben's shoulder, moved with them. "Crypt. But whose? And why? Why hide it UNDER the lab?"

Leon shook his head, annoyed. "We won't like the answer. I promise you that. That fucking lab above us? I'm gonna lay my money on Simmons."

They moved through the narrow, cold, damp stone room. The bad news was, it wasn't entirely a tomb, it was also a mine apparently. They further they moved, the more he could see the wooden walkways and rope bridges that waited in the darkness ahead. They were suspended over the endless darkness. He could hear the rushing river somewhere close by, signifying they were moving steadily out of the valley where the Cathedral had sat and toward the lake that bordered Tall Oaks and Whispering Willow on the other side.

That part was good. Getting out of Tall Oaks? Good. Going through a rotting mine and tomb to get there? Bad. The ancient stone and walls shivered, shedding broken chunks down on them as they hurried. They splashed through ankle deep water that had infiltrated through crumbling and seeping walls.

They were UNDER the river. The more he moved, the more he was sure of it. He could smell the rush of it around them. It pressed like an angry hand down on the rotting crypt. As they shifted down a crumbling corridor, he watched a chunk of the roof collapse and spill down on them in a geyser. He shifted and the water hit him instead of Jill and Ben. It was…fucking cold as balls. It hit him on the neck and shoulders and soaked his shirt.

Awesome. Fucking balls. It was as cold as a witches tit.

Leon squeaked from it.

Jill paused, blinking at him. And her mouth turned up in a smirk.

He kept his face dead pan. "Not a peep, Valentine."

"Pretty sure you just made the peep. Was that chilly, Mr. Kennedy?"

Oh she was so snide. It was adorable. He looked so cold. He shivered.

Leon intoned, drolly, "Pretty mean to make fun of a guy who just took a hit for you."

Jill shifted and gripped his wet shirt in her hand. She pressed a kiss to his mouth and watched him smirk. "My hero."

Ben said, "You want your jacket, Leon? I can be tough if you is cold."

Touched, Leon rubbed his hair and winked. "We're good, buddy. I have been A LOT colder. I promise you."

He started forward and Jill whispered, close to his ear, "I dunno about cold, hero. I think you're pretty hot."

And she skimmed her hand over his ass as she moved forward. He jumped and grinned. She took Ben's hand in hers as they walked, carefully, over rotting boards.

Leon chuckled and kinda loved her. Fart jokes and grabbing his ass all over a dirty crypt…what a Friday night. She was something else. That something else was pretty great.

They came up against a steel gate. It was warped and bending and rusty beneath the weight of the wall it tried to support. The sound of rushing water was so loud beyond it that it must've been direct access to the pit where all the bridges waited.

Leon lifted a boot and kicked the gate. It clanged and held, annoying him. Jill stepped up to help and Ben beat her to it. He waited, looking up.

Leon smiled a little at him. "On three?"

"Ok."

Amused, Helena and Jill stood back to watch them kick the gate down. Leon reared back and drove a kick from the hip. Ben grunted and imitated the move perfectly. He even went OOF. He was, probably, the cutest thing they'd ever seen.

The gate fell inward with a rusty ring of wrought iron. It clattered down and exposed a walkway surrounded by water. A tiny dais floated in the center of the water filled room. Waterfalls rushed down from high above them, spilling and tossing with foamy waves. The dais opened to another path that led further down into the darkness.

Above them, bridges and walkways rotted and tumbled down in chunks and hunks of warped and ruined wood. They moved across the stone, aware that a wrong step would send them into the rushing water, and Helena shouted.

"DEBRA!"

It was so loud. It scared the shit out of all of them.

She was running now. She ran across the slick damp stones and leapt the distance to body that lay on the platform. Leon hurried after her, covering her. He aimed at the body as Helena scooped it up and turned it over in her arms.

It was just…a girl. Just a girl, probably early twenties, in a flimsy little gray peignoir. Just lying there..lying in the middle of a crypt.

Leon glanced at Jill who had the same look on her face. It said: TRAP.

Jill didn't wait there. She took Ben and hurried over the walkway to the other side. The roof was trying to collapse. The building had started shaking.

Leon said, "Who in the hell, Helena?"

She shook her head and the groaning girl was tossed over her back, holding onto her like a monkey. Helena rose, carrying her. "Just cover me, ok? Please. Let's get her out of here."

Gnashing his teeth, Leon followed her and finally took the lead. Jill brought up the rear. They kept Helena and the girl on her back and Ben between them. They hurried down the narrow bridge to an adjacent tower of stone. The floor shook, pitching. The walkways wouldn't hold for long. They needed to get down, quickly.

Leon hurried to shove a crate filled with stone out of the way. Jesus, he thought while sweating and grunting, where was Chris Redfield when he needed all those damn muscles? Ben threw his shoulder to it to help. Proud, Leon let him give the final grunting push that sent it out of the way.

"Nice muscles, pal. You work out?"

Ben grinned at him.

Leon went to ruffle his hair and heard it. The moan was too close. He turned and it leaped on him. The goddamn skeleton. It went for the kill. Jill shouted. Helena shouted.

And Leon went down to his hands and knees with a dripping, stinking, grunting corpse on his back trying to eat his face. He tried to shake it loose and felt the teeth skim off the side of his neck. He shoved it back against the crate and Jill shouted, "Leon! Move out here! I can't get to you!"

Well, shit. He was dead.

He rammed it back against the crate with a shout of desperation but it clung like a burr. It drove its rotting jaws for his face again, he smelled it acrid breath, and the sound of gun was so loud it made his ears ring. The corpse fell down on him, still.

Leon went to his hands and knees and it spilled to the side, finished. Dead...again.

He lifted his head and through his hair…he saw Ben with his pistol.

A curl of inky steam eased out of the barrel. The boy had wide eyes and trembling lips. But his hands? STEADY.

Jill rushed around the crate, breathing too fast. And she froze.

Ben lowered the pistol and Leon rose to his knees. Ben whispered, "I had to. I had to."

Leon nodded, face calm. "You did. You did good. Come here. It's ok."

Ben hurried forward to hug him. It was a good hug. It was tight and shaking. Who was shaking? Leon was sticking to the idea that it was Ben shaking. But he was pretty sure it was both of them.

"You did good, buddy. You hero."

Ben let Jill take the pistol from his hands while he held on. Against Leon's ear, he whispered, "Did it bites you?"

Leon rose, holding the boy against him. He rocked him a little which…made Jill feel warm and sticky in places. "No bites. You saved my life, buddy. You know that?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah."

Ben leaned back to smile at him. "I'm da hero?"

"That's the rumor. Thank you."

Ben grinned at him. "Yous welcome."

"You ever shot a gun before?"

Ben grinned a little again. "My Mom would let me. I always hit the target."

Leon and Jill shared a look. It was full of too many things.

He swung the boy on his back like a piggyback. Now he had Ben and Helena had her sister. Jill nodded, taking up the charge to cover them.

Thank god. If he'd missed…well…it wouldn't have been any worse right? He'd had shot Leon in the face, sure, which would SUCK but at least he wouldn't have been bitten. So it was kinda win/win.

They ran for it. The ceiling was desperately unstable now. They ran, with Jill picking off corpses as they moved. She was a crack shot, that was for sure. She took the lead and he secured their rear. With Ben holding on, he could still shoot. And, apparently, Ben could too.

They hurried across a narrow bridge and into a room barely held up by rotting pillars and crumbling stone. Water spilled fast and deep in the center. And apparently it was as far as they were going.

Debra slid off Helena with a groan. She grabbed her stomach and screamed. It echoed in the empty room.

Helena grabbed for her. "No! Debra it's ok! Hold on ok? We're almost out of here. Just hold on."

Debra grabbed her hands and cried. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She gasped, "…Lainey…why?" And Jill grabbed Helena by the back of her shirt and jerked.

Helena was barely pulled clear as Debra burst into flame. It was so fast, so startling, that they all could do nothing but stare in horror. She burned, Helena screamed in denial, and all that remained was a pulsing, slick, goopy pod.

Like in the video.

Leon offered his pistol to Ben. And he pulled his Magnum. He said, "If she turns, buddy. Shoot the monster."

Ben nodded sagely.

Leon set him on the ground.

The pod split. It cracked and burped and split open. Something wet and horrible threw itself free in a burst of viscous, ectopic fluid. Leon dropped the hammer on the Magnum and Helena queered his shot. She stepped into the horrible mess that had been Debra and tried to…hug it?

Jill shouted, "Helena! Get back!"

And the thing that had been Debra dove for Helena's throat.

There was no time to shoot. But there was time for the zipping whoosh of sound that accompanied the arrow that brushed inches from Leon's ear to imbed in that diving face. It struck Debra's corpse in the forehead and threw her backward. Helena shouted her denial and raced to the fallen body…and Ada Wong emerged from the shadows.

Leon lowered his gun. "Ada!?"

He put his hand on Ben's to lower it as well.

Jill? She kept her pistol on the woman in red. Ada smiled wolfishly as she lowered her bowgun and winked at him. "You look like you've seen a ghost. It's good to see you, Leon."

Helena was holding the body of Debra and sobbing, softly.

Ada said, "There's no time to tell you what's happening here." To punctuate that truth, the room shook. Rocks and debris tumbled around them, indicating they were in a dangerous situation. "This place won't hold, Leon. We need to get to the lower levels."

Jill kept that gun on her. Ada turned toward her. She arched a brow. "Will you shoot me? I saved your lives."

Jill remarked, "Did you? I saw the video. I know what you are."

Curious, Ada tilted her head. "What I am? What am I?"

Jill smirked at her. "The question of the day. What do you have to do with Simmons? And what game is this the two of you are playing?"

Ada lifted her lips in a smile. "Simmons is a fool. And you're dealing with the people who really run this country now. It's worse than your little mind can imagine, girl. I promise you. Do yourself a favor, get out alive and stay that way. Stop trying to play games when you don't know the rules."

Jill dropped the hammer on her gun. "Tell me the rules. You'll find out what kind of games I can play."

Leon said, softly, "Jill."

She glanced at him.

He shook his head. He lifted his hand to indicate she should lower her gun.

"Are you kidding? You saw that video, Leon. You saw it."

"I did. Answers, Jill. We need them. We won't get them by killing her."

Ada glanced between them. She looked down at Ben. And she smirked. "Happy family, Leon? Is this your game now? What kind of family can you have eyeball deep in conspiracy? You're out of your depth here. And worse yet? It's so much uglier in the dark than you can even begin to imagine."

He took step toward her. Jill turned the gun on him.

Surprised, he met her eyes.

Jill said, "Don't touch her. Don't. I'm sorry. I won't risk you for that. Stay there and talk to her."

He held her pale gaze and finally nodded. "Alright. Ok. Ease down, Jill. Ease down. She won't hurt me."

Ada smirked a little. "Not today anyway. Maybe you should tell her about the times we hurt each other, Leon."

Ben said, softly, "He fixes booboos."

Ada grinned at the little boy. "So he does. He fixed mine too before. Kissed them and made them all better."

Leon was watching Jill. She shook her head and turned her gun back toward Helena.

Leon wasn't sure he liked that look on her face. What was that? It wasn't jealousy. What was it? He couldn't put his finger on it.

Ada said, "I'm Ada Wong. Who are you?"

Ben smiled at her, sweetly. "I'm Ben Foster."

"That's a good name. Will you protect Leon for me?"

He held her gaze. "I will. I'm a tough boy."

"I can see that." Ada turned her gaze to Leon again. "We need to move. Now. No more of this. Let's get to the lower levels, Leon. I'll tell you what I can."

Helena eased Debra's body back, wiping her cheeks with the heel of one hand. "I'm sorry, Debra. I'm so sorry."

The body twitched.

Leon shouted, "Helena! Let her go!"

And Debra's back exploded. It burst in a splatter of fluid and blood. Enormous claw like protrusions erupted out of her back. Like the legs of a venomous spider, five awful, sharp tipped claws waved around her as she caught Helena's shoulders in her hands and screamed. The legs were as long as a man and as wide as a tree trunk.

Debra threw Helena to her back on the ground and drove one of the enormous claws into her shoulder. She screamed, bucking and jerking.

Ada shot Debra in the face again with her bowgun. Leon echoed it with a blast from his Magnum. Debra was thrown back, shrieking like a banshee.

Jill grabbed Helena and threw a hand over her bleeding shoulder.

Debra threw her spider legs out and smashed them into the last structurally sound pillar that held the roof up.

Leon whispered, "Son of a bitch…"

And the floor groaned, the walls shook, and the stone gave way with a groaning, roar of destruction. Leon grabbed Ben to him who latched onto his back like a monkey and down they went.


	9. Chapter 9

**\- I Keep Falling For You -**

 **Whispering Pines 2013**

* * *

The whole thing collapsed inward. Jill and Helena tumbled and fell. Ada grabbed and missed. Debra was lost into the swirling dark.

They all tumbled and fell in various places. Jill and Helena hit close to a collapsed wall on the wooden walkway a hundred feet down. They rolled and helped each other to their feet.

Leon and Ben came down further up from them, near an over turned mine cart. There was a shout and Ben hurried over to grab for Ada's hands. She was dangling over the ledge. Leon grabbed her other hand and pulled her up.

She nodded at him.

He called, "Jill! Helena! Are you alright!?"

From somewhere down below, Helena called back, "We're ok! We're fine. We're gonna make our way down ok? Just head DOWN."

And so they did.

They worked together to move downward. Leon and Ada and Ben. Helena and Jill. They hurried as the mine shaft kept shaking. The rotting wasn't over. It was worse. Rock and stone kept raining down to try to take them out. They had to be vigilant as they ran down the rickety wooden walkways.

The few undead they came up against were pathetic. They barely could stand upright. The rot down here was long and ongoing. How long? How long had they been undead and seeking something to keep them from falling apart? What kind of sick shit had been happening beneath this city?

The rickety walkway had collapsed in one spot. A single piece of rope dangled, anchored down by a broken piece of stone. Ada glanced at his face and shrugged.

Leon lifted Ben to grip onto his back and cradled his hands. Ada took a running leap, pushed off his hands, and he launched her out. She grabbed the rope, swirled it back and forth to gain momentum, and brought it swinging back toward them.

Leon said, "Hold on tight, pal. Ok?"

"Roger!"

He was so cute. It made Leon smile as he braced, took three running steps, and leaped. He caught the rope when it swung close enough and the combined momentum of him and Ada sent it soaring over the opening to the other side. He leaped free and Ben made a whooping sound.

Amused, Leon rose and kept him on his back. "Hold on, buddy. We're gonna run now."

"Awesome!"

Lord. Why hadn't he brought a kid with him on every fucking mission? It was keeping him entertained. Leon and Ada started running as the walkway groaned and shook again.

They reached another opening with the same rope dangling. Leon launched Ada and waited. Ben giggled with excitement. "It's like a tire swing. You're like Tarzan!"

Leon chuckled. "I think Tarzan was just a little better at it, honestly."

"No WAY! You're like Spiderman and Batman! And Spongebob Squarepants!"

Leon blinked a little. "I get the first two. But why Spongebob?"

"Because you say dumb stuff all the time that is SO FUNNY!"

And now Leon laughed. He just laughed. Leon laughed as he leaped and grabbed the rope. They swirled, swinging toward the other side. Ada shouted a warning.

Everything slowed down.

It seemed they had all the time in the world as Debra tumbled at them, screaming. Leon let go of the rope. Ada flung herself to the side. And Ben buried his head against Leon's neck as they fell.

He scrambled his hands at the walkway. He grabbed. He tumbled. Too far, his mind shouted, you'll fucking die if you don't slow this descent. Leon rotated, he threw out his hands, and one finally grabbed on to something.

It was Jill Valentine.

She was hanging three quarters over the side of the walkway. She gripped his forearm and he returned the gesture. She gasped, red-faced, "I can't hold on for long! BEN! Push off Leon's shoulders and climb up my back. Ok?!"

Ben did it. The brave little thing. He pushed up and climbed up her body. She grunted, shaking with the effort. Leon spun back and threw up his other arm. She caught it and it was a little easier to hold him without Ben's added weight.

He glanced down to the bottom of the pit. It wasn't too far. Maybe two stories. He'd probably break something, but he could take the fall. He'd trained for worse. "Let go, Jill. I'll be ok."

"Shut up." Jill grunted and jerked to no avail. Finally, Ada Wong appeared above her. She grabbed Jill by the hips and jerked. Together, they leveraged him up.

He climbed up and Jill met Ada's eyes.

"…thank you."

Ada shrugged and moved toward the bottom of the walkway.

Down below, Helena was screaming.

Debra had landed and was trying to kill her. They ran. No time to worry about friends or old lovers or liars. They ended up in a wide open pit that had likely once been a part of the old crypt.

The floor had swirling stone designs that looked like snakes. Debra had Helena pinned to the floor while she tried to impale her again.

Leon dropped his knife into his hand and ran for it. Ben shouted. Jill grabbed him and shook her head. Ada shot Debra's flailing legs with her bowgun and had her reeling. Leon leaped onto her back and slit her throat in a single, smooth, almost dancer-lithe move.

Debra gurgled, pumping blood and he shifted the knife and drove it into one of her flailing legs. Taking a cue from him, Jill rushed forward to attack another one. From the ground, Helena pressed her gun against Debra's mutated chin and pulled the trigger. Her face was blown away in a burst of blood and bone.

The high pitched laughter she'd been throwing all around them was abruptly cut short. Helena shouted, "Deb, I'm so sorry!"

And Debra threw her surviving three monstrous legs around them and smashed them into the ground. The floor exploded. It erupted in a spray of stone and rock. They all stumbled, they all tumbled. Ada, surprisingly, grabbed Ben as –like London Bridge before them –they all fell down.

Leon hit his back on a walkway, gasping, trying to relearn how to breathe. And Jill fell eight fett from him on her face. He rolled, scrambling over the ground and jerked her up. She was unconscious. Terrified, he felt for her pulse and found it. Not dead. Just knocked out.

He hefted her over his shoulder and ran as the walkway shook and the ceiling rained down on them. Jesus. They were so screwed here. Gripping her butt and hips over his shoulder, he hurried as fast as he could. She wasn't very heavy but it still slowed him down.

From somewhere in the darkness, Ben shouted his name.

"Ben!?"

And Ada answered, "He's fine. He's with us. We have him!"

Thank god.

Leon staggered as the walkway shivered and tried to break under him. He kept on going. He was tossed into the wall and protected Jill's head with his back. It stole his breath but kept him motivated. And there were three corpses between him and the end of the walkway now.

They moaned and staggered, moving for him.

He lifted his pistol, one handed, and put a clean shot through the left eye of the first one. It went down, spinning into its friends. As he moved past them, he kicked the second in the ribs and it was kicked clear off the walkway to tumble into the darkness. The third got his ankles and tried to take him down. The person dangling over his back reared back and stabbed it in the face as it lunged for his ass.

Jill ripped her knife clean and Leon rolled her up against his back and into his arms. She touched his face as he set her on her feet. She wanted to hold on. It was REALLY a bad time for that.

They moved together now, hurrying as best as they could on a rickety, rackety, shaking and falling apart wooden walkway. They ran. And Ada shouted, "JUMP!"

He did. Jill did. They leaped out into the opening and spilled together into the lift that held Ada, Ben, and Helena as it lowered. Leon rolled. Jill more flopped than rolled. The lift moved steadily downward.

Ben moved to have Jill hold him close. Leon crouched to touch his hair and glanced up at Ada. "Thank you."

Again, that laconic shrug of hers. It could mean anything. It could mean nothing.

She tossed him something in her hand. He caught it, glancing down. "A ring?"

It was. A fat man's ring etched with snakes. He lifted his brows.

She grinned a little. "Don't get any ideas. You'll need it later."

The lift groaned, metal gears clunked with rusty rolls of sound, and it settled onto a set of tracks. Jill eased back with Ben in her arms. She braced and the cart made a loud SNAP of noise as it released and started rocketing down the mine shaft.

Helena settled back on the ground beside them. Jill glanced at her face. "I'm so sorry about Debra. You were close?"

Helena looked pale and broken. She nodded, glassy-eyed. She touched her weeping shoulder. "Yeah. She was my sister."

Leon glanced down at her. The cart cornered hard, left, and he stumbled. He finally sat down on the ground next to Jill. Only Ada remained standing, ever vigilant.

He held Helena's gaze now. "Simmons?"

"Yeah. Yeah. He took her. He threatened her. He threatened us both. I wouldn't cave for just me. He said…if I didn't agree, he'd turn her into a monster." A single tear slid down her dirty cheek, "He did it anyway. That fucking son of a bitch. I betrayed everything I believe in….and he did it anyway."

Ada glanced at her with a cool, level, considering gleam in her eye. She finally said, and there was sympathy in her voice, "That sounds like Simmons, alright."

Leon lifted his eyes to her where she stood guard. "How are you connected here, Ada? What the hell is going on?"

"Long story. Too long for a mine cart ride through a crumbling tomb. Keep digging, you'll get to the truth. The bad news? I have to take care of a few things so I can't stay with your little party here." She hesitated and added, finally, "I'm sorry about your sister."

Surprised, Helena nodded a little, "Thank you."

Ada nodded and added, "That's no way for anyone to die. I'll help you avenge her."

Jill blinked and glanced at Leon. He continued looking at Ada. There was something on his face that she wasn't sure of. Was it love? Were they lovers? She doubted it was that simple. If someone asked after her and Chris, the answer had never been simple either. She understood complicated.

It didn't have to mean anything more than that.

Helena nodded again. "Avenge. That's the right word. I'm going to kill Derek Simmons."

Ada held her gaze. "I believe you will."

And the cart rocked. Jill lifted her gun and pointed it at Ada.

Ada blinked, watching her. "Going to kill me? Why? Because I had him first?"

And there was the truth. But it was ill-timed. It was ill placed. And Jill fired the gun to prove it.

Helena shouted. Leon jerked. And Debra was blown out of the air an inch from Ada's face. Blood splattered Ada's profile as she jerked, falling to the side. Jill rose to her feet, keeping that gun aimed.

She said, "Whatever you were to him, whatever he was to you…I don't give a damn. Unless he was a saint, he had women. I don't care about them anymore than I care about you. Don't be stupid, Ada. I'd heard you were the smartest in your field. Pandering to jealousy doesn't help anyone here."

Ada blinked. They held gazes. Finally, she nodded. Jill offered her a hand up. Ada took it and rose.

"Well…this is lowering. And humbling. It seems I owe you an apology."

Interested, Jill held her eyes, "No you don't. Just quit trying to play me. I don't like games. And I don't shoot women for knocking boots with Leon Kennedy. None of my business."

Jill turned back to check for Debra. And the cart rocked again. No time for jealousy or confusion or regret. They were no longer alone.

Debra landed on it and her face was restored. She laughed, delighted, and smashed one of her legs into Jill. Jill's shot went wild and pinged off into the shaft somewhere. She was thrown up and out.

Leon caught her and the momentum threw them both to the floor to smash into the wall of the cart. Ben covered Jill with his body to protect her.

She blinked and loved him.

Ada pistol whipped Debra in the face with her bowgun. Helena followed it up by driving her knife into her sister's breastbone. Debra wailed, she smacked them around like bowling pins. And the cart hit the end of the horrible track they were on.

For a brief moment, it was airborne, flying through the dark. Debra was tossed clear in a wailing mess. Helena leaped. Ada leaped. Leon threw Ben on his back and leaped. Jill leaped. It was a lot of leaping and desperation. The cart turned down, they pushed off, and it plummeted toward the darkness. It went end over end. It was GONE.

Ada and Helena hit the far side and rolled. Jill plummeted and caught rock ten feet down. Leon threw Ben like a dart and he hit Helena and sent them both skidding along the ground. And then?

Well, down he went.

Jill screamed.

The wind rushed up and tore at his face and hair. He thought, how many times can I take a tumble toward death? And there was a pop, a whiz of sound, and he was caught against a slender frame. Desperate, he grabbed on while Ada zipped them up with her grapple gun like…well…Tarzan.

She dangled them from the ceiling with her legs looped around his waist. His arms were curled around her shoulders. Amused, she winked at him. "This seems familiar."

He had to laugh.

And she released the gun, they dropped a few feet, and she fired it again at the far side. Taking the initiative, he leaped as they flew over the ground and rolled. He rolled a good ten feet and finally slid out of the skid to a stop on his back. Jill helped him to his feet.

He quipped, "Nothing like a good plummet into the abyss to wake a guy up huh? This face is too pretty to be road pizza though. So thanks to Ada for pulling a Charlie's Angel there and saving the girl."

Jill slapped him.

It rang. And it surprised the shit out of him. He blinked and look down at her.

She grabbed the lapels of his dirty black shirt and shook him. "Jokes? Really? Jokes?"

He lifted a brow at her. "Too soon for jokes? What about a pun? I'm afraid this is it for us, Jill…Helena's sister just, literally, swept me off my feet. I think I was falling for her…"

She went to slap him again and he tugged her into him to hold her. Undone, she wrapped around arms around him and breathed. Ben ran over to wedge between them.

Leon, well, he'd never had anyone give a shit if he died before. And no one had EVER hugged him after a bad pun. Usually? They just rolled their eyes and coughed in sympathy. So, he was pretty sure he had to keep them now.

Down the narrow walkway, a big door awaited them. Helena was poking at it to get it to open. Ada eyed the three of them standing together. She smirked a little and gestured with her head.

"Leon? A moment?"

He let them go. He brushed his hand over Ben's hair and cupped Jill's cheek. "I'm fine. I'm ok."

Jill nodded, she slapped his chest once more and took Ben's hand to give them privacy.

Ada studied him as he walked toward her. "Tell her about me. All of it. The truth. It's how you keep her. If not? You'll lose her."

"Advice on women, Ada? Really?"

She held his gaze. "Tell her. Don't be stupid here. And be careful of Simmons, Leon. Very careful. He's smarter than he seems. I'll handle what I can. You? Get the proof to nail him the wall."

Leon nodded, watching her face. She held that look, head tilted. "What is it?"

He was picturing her erupting from one of those pods. What would they call those? Chrysalids. He wanted to ask: Are you human Ada? But it sounded ridiculous in his head. It would likely sound worse out loud.

He'd spent one very naked night on top of her. She'd felt incredible human than. She mewled and gasped and came like a human…anyway. Leon shook his head to clear it. Ada smirked a little. "Would you like to talk about that night?"

And now he laughed, as he always did, when faced with her. She was such an enigma. He wasn't sure he actually liked her or disliked her or knew her at all. He was fairly certain her name was not Ada Wong. He was fairly certain she had fifty two end games in play at all times. And he was fairly certain he was only around when she needed something from him. That night? She'd needed sex. Clearly.

But he couldn't shake her. Whatever else was true, she was a part of him he couldn't get rid of. Good, bad, or otherwise –she'd been dancing with him for almost fifteen years. A long time to spend trying to figure out a puzzle.

He eyed her a little, "I think any other time but now is a good time to talk about that night."

Ada grinned a little as her phone jingled a message at her, "I'm pretty sure you said that last time we spoke, you coward. Take care of things here, Leon. And be careful."

Ada fired off her grapple gun, she winked, and she shot off into the darkness.

Jill started to say something and his communicator signaled. He popped it open to see Hunnigan's face. "Leon! Jesus! I couldn't pinpoint you. I couldn't find you at all. I was worried!"

"Hunnigan – listen to me very carefully. Is Simmons there?"

"Yes he's right here."

"You need to be careful. I think he's the one who di—"

"Agent Kennedy," And the weaselly face of Derek Simmons appeared beside Hunnigan. He was grinning, like a cat who'd eaten the canary. Helena stepped up beside him, "Agent Harper…fancy to see you both together. The President spoke highly of you, Mr. Kennedy."

Leon twitched but kept his face droll. "You as well. He said you were friends for thirty years."

Simmons smiled snidely. "Well…we were indeed. Of course…you must know how it looks…seeing as you were the last person to see him alive."

Leon felt his blood go cold. Helena blinked a little. "What are you saying?"

Simmons was grinning. Hunnigan looked horrified. They all knew where this was going though.

He said, "Surely you know that you are both prime suspects in his murder."

Helena made a sound of distress and disbelief. "Are you kidding?! Simmons! You're the one who did all of this, you son of a BITCH!"

Simmons looked mortally offended. But there was that priggish smile in those beady little eyes in his sallow face. An ugly man, he looked like a hawk through the nose, a weasel in the face, and a wolf in the eyes. The bastard. "With what proof can you base such an outrageous accusation? Agent Harper, at the time of the attack…you had abandoned your position beside the President. A rather sensitive moment to leave your post…don't you think? Agent Kennedy…weren't you with her when the president…died? Or perhaps it was the other Agent with you? Valentine? Reports say she has a penchant for turning against American interests when it suits her. What did they call her? The Lizzie Borden of bioterror?"

Jill shook her head, turning away from the conversation. Manipulative, evil prick. Was it not enough to have dealt with Wesker all those years? It seemed evil never took a break from it.

Leon snorted out a laugh, mirthlessly, shaking his head. "You weaselly little bastard…"

Simmons laughed as well now, "Well, of course, if you're both innocent…you should have no reason not to turn yourselves in...immediately."

Hunnigan gave them a tortured look and the transmission was clicked off instantly.

Helena threw her hands to her face and screamed. It was muffled by her skin.

Leon glanced at Jill. "He didn't implicate you. Not directly. He can't make it stick to you. He implied he'll pin it on you if we don't turn ourselves in. But I doubt he can even do that. You can call the BSAA. You can take Ben and get the hell out of here."

Jill tilted her head, watching his face. He was serious. She laughed, without a drop of humor, with utter and complete sarcasm, and turned away toward the door at the end of the hallway. Ben hurried after her.

Leon shook his head at her retreating back. She was mad. Why? He was trying to protect her and Ben here. Surely, she knew that.

He muttered, under his breath, "Women." Because they were always being a pain in his ass. Why couldn't he ever get mixed up with just one uncomplicated woman? Ever? His mind said: you kidding? Strong women have been flipping your switch since puberty. You'd go nuts tied to some sweet little ordinary teacher that giggled and never rocked your world. True. Yes. Very true. And that one that was driving him nuts right now? That one had saved him, kissed him while a train raced by, and left him breathless.

Ordinary? Not at all. Extraordinary? Entirely. And even that word sounded mundane applied to her.

Helena looked up at him. "Well, you're fucked now. I'm so sorry. I should have known. I should have known he'd take you down too."

Leon shook his head. He patted her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I'm glad he can't get his hands on us now. Now? Now we destroy him. Let's go."

She watched his face. "You're not mad at me?"

"You kidding? What choice did you have? No way you could have known what that asshole would do. Let's go and finish him. And I'll back you up on the why of it."

She stood there in surprise as he walked toward Jill and Ben.

He was a good man. She'd heard that. She'd heard he was loyal. Apparently, she was earning his loyalty too now. Helena said a quiet goodbye to her sister and ran forward to help avenge her death.

Jill waited beside an enormous double set of stone doors. There were two levers to either side. It was flanked by tiny torches that flickered torchlight in shadows and soft orange all around them. It felt like looking at someone through the wavy passing brightness of headlights from an oncoming car.

He took her arm and turned her to him. "What? Tell me what you're thinking?"

Jill held his gaze in the shadowy light. He was filthy. His face was streaked with blood and dirt. The blue of his eyes was lost on one side beneath a smear of something oily. His iconic hair was matted in places with gunk. This close, in the soft lighting, she made out the shift of shadows from his long, long, eyelashes.

His face, she thought a little desperately, would she ever tire of looking at it? She brushed her thumb over the suggestion smile lines by his left eye. He lifted his hand to put it over hers. And there was that, she thought, he was loving. It was in his bones. It was reactionary. He didn't shy away from her. He also appeared to have little or no understanding of women at all. Apparently, he thought they all wanted to be protected. Did he think she needed a white knight to save her?

She'd heard, laughingly, about those two things: Leon Kennedy - crashed everything he drove. Leon Kennedy - was stupid as hell about women. Both of these things? Charming. One of these things? Annoying as balls at the moment.

Jill answered him, softly, "You can't get rid of me. It doesn't work that way. I'm in it now. Stop doing that."

"Doing what?"

When he spoke quietly, his voice was so low and gruff it was like a bear talking. She liked it. It was another thing about him that drew her. She had the skin hunger for him. Why? Was it a matter of adrenaline and surviving? Was it a matter of simply not having enough time to touch him before they'd been thrown, tits deep, into the maw? Both, most likely.

"Stop trying to protect me. I'm not some simpering girl, Leon. I can take care of myself."

Ben said, quietly, "I can protect you too, Jill. Boys do that. They do. It's not his fault. His Mom told him to do it."

And now Leon grinned and it was painfully white in his dirty face. "See? Vindicated. Boys protect girls. It's what we do."

Jill grinned back, unable not to, "You know what else, Ben? Girls protect boys too. So how about we protect each other?"

And Ben laughed, gently. "Ok. Deal. But…well…"

Jill studied him. "What's wrong honey?"

"Well…you're just a girl, Jill. I don't really think you can do that good. You know? Girls.." He seemed to be looking for the right answer to what girls did. Inspired, he claimed, "... make pies. Maybe I protect you and you make pie. Deal?"

Oh, Leon's face was so amused it was hurting her. Jill's lips were pursed and her eye twitched. Delighted, Leon snorted. A sweet little boy had just given him all the tools needed to be a bullshit white knight.

Jill pointed at him, "Laugh. I dare you. You won't like what happens. I swear to god."

Leon lifted his hands, showing himself unarmed. But the humor on his face…it was infectious. His eyes twinkled. She had to smile back. She slapped his chest. "Neanderthal. Pig. Laugh it up. Go ahead. Chucklebutt. Har har har."

Ben said, "I like blueberry pie, Jill. Ok?"

And that was it. Leon couldn't hold it in anymore. He smirked, "Yeah? I like apple pie, buddy. You think we can get her to make both?"

Ben seemed so serious. "Sometimes my mom made three pies."

Jill shook her head at them, "How about HUMBLE pie? You could try a slice, Mr. Kennedy."

Leon seemed thoughtful, considering it. "Mmm. Doubtful. I might choke on it."

"Oh, I have no doubt about that. Go grab your lever please…you pig."

Laughing, Leon started toward the other side to grab it. Jill smacked his ass as he went and he jumped, grinning. "That's a lot of groping you're doing lately, Valentine."

"Hmm. Female prerogative. I gotta shift the sexism around a little bit. Shut up and look pretty."

He couldn't stand it. He dropped his hand off the lever he was reaching for and bent over down to laugh. It felt good. It felt great. Ben was happy too. He had no idea the can of worms he'd opened but he liked seeing them laughing.

Even Helena was rolling her eyes.

She hip bumped Leon out of the way while he laughed and gestured with her head at Jill. "Ready?"

Jill smirked, "I dunno. Two girls…you think we can handle it?"

And Helena snorted as they pulled the levers. "Maybe we make pies when this is done and throw them at him."

"Oh, I like that idea." Jill and Helena chuckled together now.

There was a clunk of sound, a grind of gears, and all the torches along the walls in the circular chamber burst to flame. The world was suddenly alight with flickering fire. They waited and the doors opened with a rolling squeal of stone on stone.

A gateway to the dead.


	10. Chapter 10

**\- Indiana Jones Was A Tougher Guy Than Me-**

 **Lanshiang Airspace 2013**

* * *

And they were staring into the crypt that the mines had tried to be. This time it was filled with the dead. Not the undead…the dead. Sarcophagi and tombs and bodies were everywhere.

Helena went forward with Jill following her. Leon grabbed Jill as she moved passed. She let him pull her into him. Again, totally the wrong moment, but it felt good to let him. She looped her arms around his neck for a hug.

He laughed, softly, into her shoulder and neck.

Jill said, amused, "You are a pig, Leon Kennedy. A sexist stereotype. I will never make you pie."

Leon grinned in her skin and lifted his head to wink at her. "I bet your pie would taste amazing, Jill Valentine."

Jill rolled her eyes at him. "Actually…yes. I make an excellent rhubarb pie…objectively."

He grinned and put his lips by her ear, "Pretty sure you taste better. How about I skip the pie and eat the Jill sandwich?"

Oh lord.

Oh dear lord.

She grabbed his face and laughed. It burst out of her like a shot. Jill held him while she laughed. Oh lord, he was something. He managed to be corny, punny, funny, and turn her on all in one sentence. What a master. He was a WIZARD with words sometimes.

She stroked his filthy cheeks. "You clever thing. You clever, handsome, wonderful thing. Baby, I'm pretty sure I'll take that deal."

And now he laughed too. He laughed and smacked her fanny as they stepped apart.

"Score for me. Now let's see what that asshole is hiding down here, shall we?"

Jill sighed a little and followed Helena into the crypt, murmuring. "I'd rather feed him a KNUCKLE sandwich."

And he followed her into the dreary damp, grinning, and a little crazy about her.

* * *

The crypt smelled like sweaty shoes after a long run. There was that stench of old fungus and decay. No longer the acrid, cloying sweetness of new death; the remainder of decrepit corpses smelled musty and of mildew. The cold stone was dry here, at least, surviving the assault of the river that had taken the mine that led down to it.

They crossed through the claustrophobic chambers while they dead stared at them from hollow skulls and naked bone. A long bridge led them over an endless drop into nothing. Ben curved a little closer to Jill as they moved. She kept her gun loose in one hand, the other atop his curls.

Leon and Helena took up the rear behind them. She said, softly, as they approached a massive door with snakes carved into it. "Help me stop Simmons, Leon. Please. My sister…she was the sweet one of the two us. The sweet one. She was in medical school to be a pediatrician. The President…all those people…tell me this ends with him dead or punished."

He held her gaze as they walked. "It ends with him dead…or punished."

"Thank you. I'll follow your lead. I knew when they brought you on as an attachment what you were capable of…I'd read your file. We all had. Get me revenge for the people he's killed. Help me do it…I'll bake you any fucking pie you want."

He laughed a little and Helena smiled.

Jill was poking at the door.

The door was beautiful. It was etched with gold and copper and had an intricately laid curl of snakes in the center of it that bound it together like a lock. In the center, a message: Set Forth Evidence of Kith and Kin.

Jill blinked. Helena shrugged.

Helena said, "Anybody have anything that would work?"

Leon shook his head, "Nope. Not related…thank god. If I'd have thought about it though? I'd have ripped off his balls to bring with us when I had the chance."

Jill was looking around in some of the wall tombs for something. The impression in the eye of the snake looked to be…a tiny circle?

Leon stopped and said, "Wait…Waaaaait….hold on."

He reached into his pocket and shook loose the ring Ada had given him. And then he laughed. "Got it. Ada Wong…brilliant. Damn her."

He poked the ring into the indention and the door made a grinding noise. The medallion of snakes in the center started turning to release the lock. They waited, watching it slowly rotate.

And Ben whispered, "Leon…?"

He turned his head toward the boy was pointing.

Fifteen skeletal undead were lumbering down the bridge over which they'd come. Leon spun back with Jill and Helena. He glanced around while they started to pick off the ones they could.

On the far side of the bridge was a crank. He considered it and finally ran toward it. With a grunt, Leon started rolling the heavy crank bar. It made a whirring sound of metal grinding. The stench of sulfur filled the air. The door made a popping sound.

Leon shouted, "Move away from the door!"

And they did. Seconds later, the snake medallion spewed an enormous blast of fire from its spinning face. The fire burst free like a twenty foot flame thrower. It hit the advancing corpses and set them ablaze. The smell of roasting bone joined the stench of rotten eggs. It was a terrible smell. It made the nose curl and the eyes squint.

Leon kept rolling the crank. And then more of the undead began to spill from the open tombs behind him. One grabbed his ankles and another dove for his hip. He spun back and kicked the first off the bridge beside him. The other managed to have him stumbling into the wall as he kicked at it.

He turned his eyes and nearly died in horror.

Ben was running toward him.

One rotting skeleton grabbed the little boy from the floor and drug him down toward it.

Leon and Jill were both rushing now. Rushing. Ben screamed and stuck his jacket covered arm in its descending jaws. It savaged the expensive leather but couldn't get his skin. Leon, feeling his blood pound so hard it hurt, reached them first. He kicked it in its brittle ribs and sent it rolling.

Jill drove her boot into the back of its skull as it rolled and turn its head to chunks of broken bone and congealed blood. Leon jerked Ben off the floor and into his arms. Helena grabbed the crank and started rolling it.

Jill shot one of the undead that grabbed for Leon's ankles and he kicked another in the head as it fell to the floor from an opening above them. Ben, shaking, was stuck to his front like a monkey now. Leon kept his left arm looped around him and fired with his right.

The fire died down. The door finished its opening roll. And the world went quiet.

Someone was breathing fast and hard. The moment he realized it was him, Leon drew back the boy clutched to his front. "Look at me."

He did.

He was shaking. But he wasn't crying.

Tough fucking kid for somebody barely older than a baby.

"You can't do that, Ben! You can't run for me like that. Did you see those zombies between us? You ran right into them!"

His voice, Jill thought, it was shaking as he yelled at the little boy. Tough hero that he was, he was scared. She put a hand on his arm to soothe him. She put the other on Ben to do the same.

Ben made a little sound. "I sorry. They were everywhere. I didn't want them to get you."

Leon pulled three shaky breaths. And he brought the boy back into him to hold. A hand on the back of his head put Ben's face into the bend of his neck and shoulder. It soothed them both for a moment. "I know that. I know that. But what did we say?"

Ben made a little sound again and whispered, "…leave you behind."

"Yeah. Leave me behind. That was the deal right?"

Ben nodded against him and added, "I don't want to do it. I sorry. I lied."

Leon couldn't even be mad. He couldn't be anything at the moment. He tried to remember the last time anyone had given enough of a shit about him to run through zombies to save him. Claire in Raccoon. Jill in Tall Oaks.

And this little boy.

He couldn't even be mad at him. Because nothing had ever meant more than that little lie.

Leon kissed the top of his dirty little head and squeezed him close. "It's ok, buddy. Can't help being a hero right? It's just what we do."

Ben made a little wet nod against him. Ah, Leon thought, there were the tears. He rubbed his back in slow circles to comfort him. Ben whispered, "You mad at me?"

"Not mad, pal. Not mad. Scared. Sometimes I yell when I'm scared. I'm sorry about that."

Ben sniffled, "It's ok. My mom yelled at me all the time like that. She said it was a cuz she loved me. She said sometimes when you love someone, you have to be mean to protect them."

"Your Mom sounds like a smart lady."

"She was. But she couldn't make pancakes."

And now Leon laughed a little and set him down. He knelt, eyeing him. "You gotta listen to me, Ben. Please. Listen to me. I can't keep you safe if you don't listen."

Ben nodded, swiping his nose with the dirty jacket. "I will."

Leon inspected the arm beneath the ruined jacket sleeve. It was free and clear. "No bites?"

Ben shook his head again. "No bites."

"Good." Leon rose and took his hand. "Good."

Jill was waiting at the door to the next chamber. She said, "You may want to pick him up again."

Leon glanced into the room. It was filled with water. The river had clearly found her place beyond the big door. Ben leaped on his back and clung as they moved into it. Of course, Leon mused, it was freezing cold. Naturally.

"You know," He mused as they carefully avoided broken stone and half collapsed chunks of rotting crypt, "Just once, I'd like to have to wade through warm water."

The room was a semicircle. The walkway moved to the left and they gingerly picked around it. The center was nothing but an overflowing pool of deep water. Tiny waterfalls spilled continuous streams down from the fractured ceiling above them.

They eased toward the far door and something in the water…shifted. Leon froze. Helena froze. And Jill watched the fin rise out of the water. Fin? Fins made of bone. Fins made of cartilage. Fins made of something worse. The fins were as long as a man. The fins were sharp and ominous. The body they were attached to delved back into the water without being seen.

And they all moved faster down the far hallway.

Helena said, "What the fuck was that?"

Jill answered her, "I faced mutated sharks in Raccoon City. I'm afraid that's the newest version."

Leon said, "I fought a fucking nasty piece of work in Spain. Nearly fucking killed me. It was an eel or something. We don't want to wait here for Nessie back there to pop up and show us her big grin. I promise you, we are better off never meeting."

The wet tunnel narrowed and they moved through the crypt at a faster pace. The biggest problem with treading through water was finding out about the damn corpses hiding in the depths of it. They'd grab ankles and try to topple you. It slowed their progress.

When they finally reached another gate, Jill turned the crank beside it and it separated in the middle. The top went into the ceiling and the bottom sank into the floor. They stepped through it and hurried down a flight of stairs. They were back in the water and it was rising still.

The water was rising.

Was there no end to this damn crypt?

There was a door waiting at the end of a long tunnel. The two levers waited for them to pull them and show the path. Jill and Helena grabbed them while Leon covered them. They tugged and there was a clunk from the door.

But it didn't open.

The floor did.

It jerked and thunked and spilled them down into the depths beneath it. They were falling, again, falling through the cold and the rushing air. They hit the ground and grunted, they groaned, someone laughed.

Leon queried, exasperated, "Why are we always falling!?"

Jill helped him up. Ben, the trooper, had held on while they'd fallen. They were on a narrow stone platform. One of several. And there was nothing around them now. They were suspended on platforms with pillars of stone beneath them. The platforms were crumbling. The pillars were crumbling. The cave they'd fall in to was crumbling. The water was coming. He wasn't sure anymore if they'd beat it or not. What happened if they didn't?

They'd be trapped in the Simmons family sinking crypt for all eternity, drowned. And Simmons? Well, he got away with it if that happened. Leon shook his head, irritated. The bad guys always had the advantage. The good guys were always the damn underdog. Why could the good side, just once, win the day without getting the shit kicked out of it first?

Geez.

The only way between platforms was to jump. Naturally. They were wobbling and shaking. The ground was unsteady and sinking and slick. They moved, jumping, hurrying. There was a set of doors down the long, winding root at the far side of the cave.

As they moved, the platforms got smaller. And the jumps got longer. And the fear started to gnaw at the back of throat like a living thing.

A rickety, narrow, shivering bridge spanned the distance between two lurching platforms. It blew in the breeze from the rushing water around it and the promise of death to any who attempted to cross it. What choice did they have?

They started across.

They were halfway there, none of them breathing right, when something moved out from behind the pillar on the far platform. And they were face to face with one of the big fat nasty freaks that had tried to stop the bus from fleeing in Tall Oaks. This one was male. It had a blubbery gut that looked like it had EATEN the bus and five chins on its bloated face. It had hair like Homer Simpson and was rotting in places as the flesh sloughed off and plopped grotesquely on the ground around it.

"Jill." Just her name but she knew what he wanted. She took Ben from his back. She and Helena backed up the bridge, slowly, toward where they'd been.

Leon rolled the sniper rifle around into his hands and lifted it, bracing it on his shoulder. The big fatty stomped its feet, shaking the platform it was on. If it got to the bridge, Leon doubted the thing would hold. The weight on the damn fatty had to be six hundred pounds.

He adjusted the scope, aimed for that fat face and all its chins…and the fatty let out a yell and started charging toward the bridge. Leon pulled the trigger when it was a foot from the first plank. The heavy round took the top of its head off. He turned the ugly face into a canoe. The fat body stumbled. The fat body tumbled.

Leon shouted, "Go on! Get it done! Humpty Dumpty and die already!"

He shot it again in the fat chest with the sniper rifle. This time, the heavy round did its job, it blew the fat body backward and sent it down in an earthquake of movement. The platform shook. The bridge trembled. Leon held his feet – courtesy of YEARS of training.

And the damn fatty rolled as it fell. It took a chunk of the platform with it. It sent it careening to the side. They ran. What else could they do? They ran across the rocking platform. There was a snap of rock and stone popping. There was a ROAR of shifting movement.

They reached the far side and dived to the adjacent platform. And the one with the back half of the bridge toppled. It went right, it went left, it jerked and snapped the bridge in two…and it hit the platform they were on while it went down.

That was it.

They were done.

* * *

They could do nothing now but run and jump. Run…and dive. Run…and pray. They leaped. They fell. Ben was tossed between them. They stumbled. They staggered and slid. Leon went over the side and Jill yanked him back up with a desperate strength that impressed him.

He THREW Ben the last distance to the outcropping in the wall. Jill caught him and went down on her butt. Leon tucked, rolled, and skidded out as the final platform tumbled down into the darkness with a grumbling crunch of falling stone.

Helena helped him to his feet. They watched the last vestiges of their route tumble down into the darkness with a rushing burst of water and Jill slid her arm around his waist and turned her face into his collarbone. He cupped her cheek, turning that look up to him, "Ok? You ok?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Jesus."

"I know. I don't get paid enough for this kind of shit. You wanna know something else? The healthcare coverage SUCKS. I have to pay for my own glasses."

Jill's mouth twitched.

He held her gaze. "Why am I running around in crypts, getting farted on by monsters, getting the shit knocked out of me by fatties…when they don't even pay for my glasses!? What kind of shit is that, Jill? Seriously? The vision plan offered by the government is utter crap."

She laughed. She laughed and kissed him. It glanced off his cheek and the corner of his mouth as she giggled. But it was worth the effort. Wryly, Leon squeezed her in a hug.

Jill said, "You're so dumb sometimes. We're running for our life and you're concerned about your glasses?"

"No?" He turned with her and Helena to move toward the archway before them. "That would be stupid right? So no. I was not thinking of that. I was entirely focused on survival."

Jill glanced up at his face, smirking. "I bet they're adorable glasses."

And he winked at her.

Yeah, she thought, they were adorable. She could almost SEE them on his face right now. Was it wrong to be jealous of glasses? They got to straddle him…so maybe not. Maybe it was all kinds of RIGHT to be jealous of glasses.

Jill paused, "Leon…"

"Hmm?"

"Aren't you kinda your own boss?"

"…potentially. Well, I guess now, I'm kinda unemployed. And potentially a fugitive…so maybe not. But what's the point here?"

She held his gaze. And her mouth split into a grin. "You idiot. You pick your own healthcare plan! Why would you pick something with bad vision coverage?"

He opened his mouth to admit to picking the first plan they'd thrown on his desk and there was a burst of sound. He turned back. Helena shouted. Jill grabbed Ben. And the ceiling burst apart in a crunching, gushing, explosive spill of rock and water.

Leon grunted as it hit him full in the face. They were all thrown up, thrown back, tossed away as the water raced into them and pushed them into the abyss. He hit a wall, felt rocks cut up his face, jarred his shoulder and they were being sucked down the cave into the nether regions.

There was no hope of doing anything but trying to keep from smashing into the ceiling or the walls or the floor and getting knocked out. Where was everyone else? It was impossible to know.

He was sucked clear out the end of the mad rush of water and was suspended, for one shining second, before he plummeted into the freezing water beneath. He sunk, sputtering, flailing. And just started swimming.

The first out cropping he came to, he shot up for air, gasping desperately. It was a tiny opening. There was no room for anything but his head. He breathed, ragged and thick. And he tried to shout, "JILL!? BEN!? HELENA!? IS anyone out there?!"

There was no answer.

Had he really expected one?

With no other choice, Leon sank down into the water and kept swimming forward. He could hear the muffled, obscured sounds of movement in the water around him. He was an excellent swimmer, superb, naturally it was part of his training. He did breaststrokes through the dark, freezing water. He brushed against floating bodies and pulled his knife just to be safe.

He popped up for air when he could and sank down to keep swimming. His heart was hammering. It was pounding. He wasn't sure how long he was swimming now. How long? He hadn't seen anyone. He hadn't caught a glimpse of anything.

His mind said: Prepare for the idea that you might be the last one alive.

He shook his head, denying it.

He swam forward, trying not to panic. Where were they? Shouldn't he have found them by now? His arms turned him, his body navigated, his brain punished him with fear. Fear. And he hadn't been afraid so far. Correction, his mind said, you hadn't been TERRIFIED so far. He was getting there now.

The fear of the bus going down. The fear of finding Jill gone afterward. That lingered. It stayed with him. It was magnified now. It was horrible.

Leon popped up for air and sobbed out a breath. His hands grabbed a jutting piece of stone and held on. He breathed, finding his center, harnessing his fucking chi or looking for answers in the universe. He didn't know. He was just trying to keep it together. He bared down on the stone and breathed, harsh, low.

Something grabbed his ankle. He panicked, kicking at it. And it popped up in front of him. He put the knife to it and shoved it hard against the other end of the opening.

And he almost killed her before he realized who it was.

Jill gasped, breathy and harsh, "It's ok. It's me. It's ok. Ben is with Helena. They are ok. We're ok. We couldn't find you. I back tracked. I'm glad I back tracked. I'm glad. I couldn't find you."

She was babbling. She was rambling. She known a dose of fear so broad and sharp when they'd gathered in an opening without him. Without him. It leveled her. She could barely breathe. Ben had started crying. Helena had him now, protecting him while Jill had gone back to look.

She hadn't really thought she'd find him. At first, seeing his boots dangling, she'd thought he was dead. She thought he was dead and floating. But then she realized he was up there getting air. And she could breathe too. She could breathe again.

He slid the knife off her throat.

Jill whispered, grabbing handfuls of his shirt as they both treaded water. "You're ok? Leon? You're alright?"

He shook his head and grabbed the back of her neck. Ripe for it, she turned her face and opened her mouth. It was a good kiss. It was a lot of tongue and gasping. Part of that was desperate relief, part of it was trying to breathe when treading water, part of it was two people attempting to not fall apart with relief. But he'd had enough of the little kisses. He needed something to ground him here. He needed something from her to make him feel solid.

They both panted, they both groped, they both popped apart gasping.

He grunted, "Stop scaring the shit out of me, Jill. I mean it."

And she laughed a little. "I'm sorry. You ready, baby?"

Baby. He fucking liked it. It was possessive. He wanted to try it on her. He wanted her to be his baby. "Ready might be overstretching it. But we'll go with…begrudgingly willing."

Jill kissed him again. "Stay with me. Please."

"You kidding? If we weren't eyeball deep in horror and freezing water, I'd probably be trying to drill you through your pants right now. Shake your ass while you swim and make it fun."

"…you are a terrible pervert, Mr. Kennedy."

He laughed a little. "I might be. But you're in a dress Jill. A dress. Are you wearing a thong under that dress?"

Her face was droll.

He groaned. "I KNEW it. I don't know if it's the worst torture on earth to swim behind you in that dress or the best. Swim closer and let me cop a feel."

She was laughing as she sunk below the water and swam away. He followed her, feeling the panic take a back seat to the relief and the feel of her. She put her hands on him and soothed him, aroused him, and anchored him. It was insane.

They swam smoothly through the murky water. He finally popped up into an opening and Jill sprang up in front of him. She took deep breaths. It was so small they had to press together in the opening. She said, "I let them a few meters up. We pushed a grate and climbed through. They're waiting on a little ledge. Although honestly, Leon, I don't know that there's much over there. This place is so fucked. I don't know how we'll get out."

"We'll just keep swimming right? There's got to be an egress point for the water somewhere. I we can find the river, we can find a way out. Simmons won't wait, Jill. He'll blast Tall Oaks off the map, soon. We need to get the fuck out of this place. What's the likelihood the BSAA rescued those in the cathedral?"

Jill floated a little closer to him. The narrow outcropping was barely head and shoulders wide. He lifted his arms and grasped the protruding stone above him. It shifted his body enough that Jill could wedge in closer to him and get better access to air. It put their mouths even and their eyes inches away. Intimate, Jill thought, if they weren't fighting for their lives here.

Also, that iconic hair of his? Still something to see soaking wet.

She answered, "Most likely. I had guys all over the area. If they were still in Whispering Pines, Leon, the evacuation should be done by now."

Leon nodded, "Good. Good. There's still some hope there then. Hopefully, Hunnigan got the message out before Simmons put the muzzle on her."

Jill nodded a little. Their noses brushed together. She said, softly, "Ready for the final push?"

He tilted his nose against her. "Grab this thing above us. Just for a minute. It takes the pressure off your legs and gives them a break."

"Yeah?" She reached up and grabbed it. It pushed her breasts into him almost obscenely.

And now he was grinning. "Well, apparently it's also good at giving me access to motorboating."

Jill chuckled, looking like a drowned rat and delighted to be stuffed in a tiny outcropping with him. "Don't think sticking your face in my cleavage will help you breathe, my good sir."

"Probably not…but what a way to die."

Amused, Jill shifted a little. It rubbed her breasts against him. He arched a brow and his face was all kinds of deliciously excited. "This is, hands down, the best swimming I've ever done. And I won the 100 meter free style in high school at State."

"Oh yeah? Champion swimmer?"

"Three years running. Lost out my senior year because I was too interested in getting ass…" Jill burst with a delighted laugh. He was so fucking disarming. His charm came from, honestly, having a missing filter. He laughed a little, "And I'm digressing all over the place because I want to grope you and instead I have to swim down into the murky water where some kind of enormous mutant…thing…is lurking."

Jill laughed, her dark hair streaming all around her, "Yeah. That does tend to make it hard to get your rocks off, doesn't it?"

"Seemingly. Just…" He shifted a little and his hand dropped into the water. Jill watched his face, curious. And then she jumped, splashing them both with water. Because he'd reached right up under her dress and stroked her naked little butt. "...yep. Thong. Damnit, Valentine. You're killing me here."

And he ducked down into the water while she laughed.

They swam the last distance to the grate. They popped up to Ben and Helena sitting on a tiny ledge. And he saw what she meant. Ben was barely able to sit comfortably. Helena half dangled in the water. There didn't seem to be a way out that he could find.

"Shit…just my luck."

Jill nodded and treaded water over to Ben to check on him. He said, "I didn't even hold my nose!"

And made Leon grin, "Good job, pal. You're a fish huh?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm a good swimmer."

Jill smiled and floated back to Leon in the center of the outcropping. "What now? You want to scout ahead down there and see if we can find another route?"

Leon nodded a little, scooping his sopping hair out of his eyes with one hand. "Yeah. Helena? You want to wait here with Ben? It's probably safest that way."

Helena nodded, "Yep. Swimming? Not my favorite thing."

Leon nodded. He glanced at Jill. "Ladies first?"

She gasped. She grabbed his arm. She grabbed it so tight it hurt. He caught her shoulder. "Jill? Honey?"

And the water turned red around them. His guts turned to ice. "Jill?"

She grabbed his face and her eyes rolled back in her head. She sunk down and he went with her. The moment he broke beneath the surface of the water, he saw it. IT. It was a nasty clown that became a monster. This IT was a nasty beast that might have been a shark…maybe…or a whale…or never been anything seen on Earth before at all.

It had Jill in its mouth. IT HAD JILL IN ITS MOUTH.

It whipped her around took off into the murky darkness. But it didn't go alone because he grabbed one of its horrible, protruding, boney dorsal fins and held on. They were whipped through the water. It was fast and desperate. There was no time to consider if you could breathe or if you could panic.

You just…held on.


	11. Chapter 11

**\- Leon Kennedy Vs. The Giant Fish!?-**

* * *

 **Lanshiang China 2013**

* * *

Leon shifted, climbing along the bony yet slimy skin of the thing that had Jill Valentine in its mouth. It was a shark but wasn't. It was bony, scaly, slimy. The pectoral fins were huge, massive, and muscled with tips that resembled a bats wing. The cartilage stretched over the fins gave it the power to push and fly through water like a bullet.

Leon mounted it, holding on amidst the rushing water, the rolling ride, and the sweeping slap of those enormous pectoral fins. His hands pulled, his body lunged, and his leg brushed something sharp and metal. Trying to survive what felt like a thousand years and was, literally, a handful of moments…he grabbed the metal thing and jerked it clear of that scaly hide. It spilled red blood around him as he hefted it. It was a harpoon. A harpoon. Someone had harpooned the son of a bitch and it was STILL ALIVE.

Grasping it, hating the chances of surviving something that had outlived A HARPOON, Leon reached the massive jaws of the thing. Jill was clutched in them. She was dangling. She was just…dangling. He couldn't tell where it had impaled her on its teeth. IF it had impaled her. Or if it was just holding on to her to take her back to its…nest? And eat her.

It didn't matter. Lean reared back and drove the fucking harpoon right into its beady eye.

It roared. There was no other word. It opened its mouth and roared. Jill floated free and Leon grasped her to him, jerked the harpoon free of the gushing eye, braced himself on the gaping jaws that wanted to DEVOUR him…and jabbed the harpoon right into its diving maw. It hit the roof of its mouth and burst free out of the top of its blubbery head. The water was so thick with blood now it was impossible to see.

They were surrounded by infected blood. And Leon's lungs were telling him if he didn't breathe soon, he was going to drop dead. But Jill was moving in his arms. She was moving. She jerked the harpoon free while the beast roared in denial, Leon kicked it square in the snout, and she drove the harpoon into one gaping nostril.

That was it. It was done playing around. It hit her broad side with its pectoral fin and she spun into the bloody water. Leon kicked it in the snout again and they burst free of the watery ride they'd been on. They were suspended, for one shining moment, in mid air and the thing smacked him with its fin. He went out, out, out – he flew through the air like a dart. He managed to angle himself down and dive smoothly into the waiting water as he hit.

It closed around him, comforting and warm somehow, and Leon boobed down and popped up like a cork, gasping. "JILL!"

"LEON!"

He glanced up at her voice. She was climbing to her feet on a bridge HIGH above him. She'd been tossed there, apparently, during their terrifying ride with the nasty beast. The good news was, she was ok. The bad news? He was in the water…with JAWS' nastier, bigger, meaner brother.

Jill hurried across the bridge while he swam toward the farthest outcropping. She called down to him. "Are you alright?!"

"Well…" He was breathing hard and fast, freestyling it while he moved, "Define alright? I'm not dead! I am, however, in the goddamn water with this thing…so I HAVE been better! I am also NEVER EATING FISH AGAIN. Just for the record!"

Jill laughed a little and then she stopped laughing. She shouted and her voice was terrified, "Oh god! Oh GOD! LEON! FASTER!"

She didn't have to say it twice. Seriously. He heard it. He felt it. The water shoved him forward as it burst free about fifty yards behind him. It spewed blood, it geysered water, it had something exploding out of its massive jaws that looked like the legs of a cockroach or the yellow and black and orange tentacles of an octopus…or something that would crush you while you screamed.

And he was officially swimming faster than he had in high school trying to get the State championship. He was swimming so fast he was pretty sure Michael Phelps was jealous somewhere. If there was an official for the Olympics somewhere close by, he was a shoe in for the American team. As an amendment to his earlier statement of never eating fish, he was always never, ever, ever going swimming again. Ever. Or spelunking. Or caving. The list was on going.

He felt the heat of it too close behind him. He waited to die…and there was a BOOM of sound. It roared. It tossed its head, it whipped around, and it retreated into the water. Jill was kneeling on the bridge with his sniper rifle on her shoulder.

He officially felt like he might be in love with her.

He had to double check when he wasn't half dead with fear and fatigue…but it was feeling like love to him.

He kept on swimming. He heard it rise again. Jill shouted, "You slimy BASTARD! STAY DOWN!"

It got too close, it reared to kill him – she blasted it with the rifle. It roared and retreated. Yep…he loved her. Love. Big L.

He shouted to her as he swam, "It's trying to eat my ass!"

Jill's answer actually, somehow, made him laugh as she swam like a madman, "God damn shark…that's MY ASS!"

Yep. He loved her.

He was almost there and he knew Jill had lost her angle on him. Naturally. Of course. And the big nasty was right there. Right there. It reared, it roared, and he felt it drive down to swallow him up. The breath smelled like sulfur and rotting meat and tuna. How did it smell like tuna?!

There was a boom. Two booms. They were loud. They were so close.

He rolled to his back and saw Ben and Helena standing on the landing. They fired into the big nasty until it roared and swam away, spilling blood from its angry mouth. Leon reached the ledge and Ben and Helena pulled him up.

They were up against a wrought iron grate. It was blocking the only way out.

Leon coughed and gasped, relearning how to breathe and Ben hugged him close, shaking. On his knees, Leon held on to him for a long moment. "What a hero. That's twice you've saved me."

Ben sniffled a little against his neck.

He glanced up at Helena, "Thank you."

She smiled a little and went to go check the gate.

There was a thump of sound and Jill joined them. Leon rose with Ben stuck to his soaking leg. Jill's leg was a bloody mess. It had bled down into her boot. Clearly one of those nasty teeth had scraped the outside of her thigh and partially punctured it.

She tossed him the sniper rifle. He caught it, still breathing hard. "Nice shootin, Valentine. Redfield teach you that?"

Amused, Jill smirked, "Nope. That was all me, Kennedy. Let's hear it for the STARS."

Helena kicked the gate. "This thing is wedged shut man. What now?"

The answer rose up from the water with an ear splitting ROAR. It launched its massive body at them and had them scattering. Leon grabbed Ben against his front and dove left. The nasty sharp hit the grate, broke the whole fucking wall with it…and sent them careening down the tunnel beyond.

The water slide of death continued. They were ripped and pulled, shoved and jerked, rushed and rolled. He held on to Ben while they went, feeling the water in his eyes and nose and lungs. And the shark came down the tunnel toward them in the gushing, rushing, blasting race of water that propelled them along with tremendous and crushing force.

Ben never let go. He kept on holding on. Jill rolled toward them. She grabbed at his thigh. Leon shook his head and passed her Ben. She took him and the water took them both. It shoved them away from him while she called his name.

Lost, forsaken, Leon rolled to his back. The shark rose above him, roaring. He grabbed the Magnum in his thigh holster that Jill had been reaching for. It leveraged over him, trumpeting its cry for blood to the tunnel. He waited until it was right on him and shot it, point blank, it that gaping mouth with his Magnum. He unloaded the rest of the mag into it. It blossomed with blood. It wailed. And Leon grabbed the harpoon still lodged in its face and jerked it free.

He rolled, tossed in the water, and speared it with the harpoon as he came down. It went straight into the blubbery top of its head. It burst with blood, it made a sound like a balloon popping. And it hit him with its massive pectoral fin and threw him out.

Leon tried to stop it but it didn't matter. Too late, he saw it coming. He hit the wall of the tunnel, felt the rock smash into his temple, and the world went black.

* * *

He came awake gasping. Jill rolled him to his side and he vomited water on the dirty ground. Ben was crying. Helena was on her hands and knees breathing.

And they were…outside. They were outside.

They were outside of the goddamn crypt.

The corpse of the shark floated in pieces in the water they'd left behind. Leon, head spinning, gasped, "Wha…?"

And Jill whispered, "Ben…it was Ben. There were barrels of fucking TNT in the debris. From the mine I guess. From the mess. It just…it got one in its mouth. It tried to eat you while you were unconscious…and Ben just…shot the barrel."

Leon rolled his head, lungs ACHING, body QUAKING. He gasped and wheezed. "You shoot the fucking barrel, pal?"

"…I did." Ben was crying silently now. "I did. Just like a video game. Just like that. Boom."

Leon gagged a little and spit up more water. Weak, he collapsed a little to the side and Jill caught him to turn him into her body. He let her hold him for a moment. "Yeah…fucking brilliant kid. Boom."

There was a loud WHOOSH of sound above them. The predawn sky was pink and purple, puffy clouds soared around in a gray and white tableau of perfection. Orange and gold had started to peak between the twilight to offer the viewer the idea of the coming day. And the planes that whisked through the cool dawn air were fast and deadly.

They could do nothing but watch as the bombs fell and the fire erupted…and Tall Oaks became nothing more than a crater of catastrophe where they'd once laughed and bungie jumped and walked hand in hand through the sleepy little streets

Jill clutched him to her, heaving out shallow breaths. He rose to his knees and tried to see how hard they could cling to the other. Ben wedged between them and kept holding on. With a little sound, Helena joined the circle of hugging.

It was a good moment. It was a horrid moment. It was the moment they wondered if they were the only people to have made it out of Tall Oaks alive. And it bound them in a way that had no name. It made them family, in one hand, and friends in the other. At the very least, they were outcasts now. They were fugitives. They had no one they could trust.

They were on their own.

His communicator beeped, surprising him. Apparently, it was waterproof. He pulled it free and Hunnigan's face emerged. She looked harried, she looked afraid, and she looked PISSED. Leon doubted she liked having the National Security Advisor breathing down her neck.

She said, softly, "Oh thank GOD. Thank god. You're alright?"

"We're not dead." Leon shifted a little, "Where is Simmons? You need to stop him. Find him and put his ass in cuffs, now."

"I can't! He lit out of here like a man possessed. I can't arrest him, Leon. I've got nothing but speculation at this point. And worse yet? He just set you guys up as the fall guys. It's your word versus his…you'll lose and he'll go free. We need PROOF."

"Where the fuck did he go?"

"China. I put a tail on him. He's readying his jet now. He'll be leaving soon."

Leon glanced at Jill. He looked down at Ben. And he turned his eyes to Helena. "Can you get me a flight into China?"

"Yeah. I can..but you should look at this first." She uploaded data to his device. He flipped through it. Jill and Helena moved to stand with him. And Jill grabbed his arm.

She gasped, "Leon…Leon….this is what Chris faced in Edonia. This is what drove him insane. It cost him all his men."

Hunnigan was nodding. "Yeah. Yeah. It's confirmed by the BSAA as the C-Virus. And it's loose. My guess? Simmons is taking it to China."

Helena whispered, "We've seen those pods here. This was here. He released it here. Why?"

Leon shook his head. He paced. He shot a hand through his soaked hair. And then he looked at Jill. He held her eyes and said, "Hunnigan…I need you to fake our deaths. Can you do that?"

Hunnigan was quiet. Helena made a sound. Jill kept holding his gaze, no flinching, no blinking. Finally…she nodded.

Hunnigan answered, softly, "Of course. But they'll see through it eventually. What's the plan here, Leon?"

"Stop Simmons. To do that? He needs to think he's won. Get me whatever we have on the BSAA in Edonia. Locate Chris Redfield, discreetly. If you can't pull him, get eyes on him. And get us a flight into China."

Hunnigan nodded, typing on her keyboard. "Ok. Listen, I've got a safehouse set up for you in Whispering Pines. It's a mile east of your location. It's out of the way and quiet. An hunting cabin used by the DSO for staff get togethers when the President was visiting Tall Oaks. It's big but rustic. Adam…liked it that way."

She looked so sad. Leon nodded and felt his chest tighten. "Yeah, he did. He used it all the time. I know where it is. Hunnigan, keep it together ok? And thank you…for trusting me."

"Are you kidding? We've seen some shit, you and I. I'd trust you over my husband, Leon, and that's saying something. Get to the cabin, get some sleep, get some food in you. I had it stocked with supplies before things went to shit. So, you're good to go."

Leon laughed a little now, shaking his head. "You're a goddess, Ingrid. What would I do without you?"

"Tramp around soaked to the bone and ugly, no doubt. Be safe. I'll contact you when I have your plane." She disconnected.

Leon paced away from them. He put his hands in his soaked hair. And he didn't look perfect anymore...he looked tired. His iconic hair was plastered to his face. He looked like he'd just survived a nightmare. How did it end? Did they even know the answer to that?

He watched the fire roar in the distance. It swirled and slapped the sky with fingers that blazed and burned away the clouds around the destruction. Was anyone alive in there? Were they holding their dead in their arms and screaming? Were they bleeding on the ground and burning? Jesus.

He put his face in his hands and drew a long, shaky, painful breath. This is how the world ended, he thought madly, in fire and blood. How did they fix it? How did they stop it? How did they set it right?

What happened if evil won? What did the world look like when there was no one left to fight for it? How did he stop a man with the entire US government backing him? He couldn't protect anyone. He couldn't prove anything. He was just one man. Why was he always just one man?

The arms that slid around his waist were narrow and cool. She hugged him from behind with her cheek on his back. And that one simple touch grounded him before his mind could make him insane with hopelessness and loss. She could feel him shaking and it broke her heart. Against his back, she whispered, "Not now, baby. Not yet."

Baby.

How had he become somebody's baby?

It seems he'd forgotten. He wasn't just one man. This time? He wasn't alone.

That's what had happened while he'd been trying to stay alive. He'd become somebody's baby. He wasn't alone anymore. He turned and scooped her up against him. Her feet dangled. She put her face to his ear and soothed him, "Now isn't time to fall apart. Soon. Not now. Stay with me, Leon. Stay with me now. Say it."

And he did. He whispered it back to her, eyes closed and holding on. "I'm with you."

And instead, they held on to each other for just a moment longer.

And all too soon, it was time to get moving again.

They didn't say anything. What could they say? They moved together over the wet ground and made their way through the peaceful little forest to the cabin. It was a short walk, considering what they'd gone through to get there.

Ben was asleep in his arms before they ever reached the cabin. He slept boneless and soft. He slept, as children often do, without panic or remorse. He lay with his head on Leon's shoulder, his mouth agape, his snoring around them like music.

Jill covered them as they walked, holding her pistol loose in her hands. Helena had lost all her weapons somewhere in the mad rush to safety. Between them, only the Magnum and one pistol remained. But there was no more danger. The danger had died in Tall Oaks…with the president.

Jill and Helena held hands as the long walk dragged on. It was a circle of people just trying to stay together. It was a circle of people who were, now officially, dead.

Helena spoke, finally, as they came upon the cabin. Although cabin was a modest word. Seeing as it was used for the President of the United States it was palatial. It was grand. It was a mansion made of timber. It was enormous and sprawling and had windows that glittered in the rising sun from floor to ceiling. "I need forty million hours of sleep and food. Desperately."

They nodded in response to her and in agreement.

Jill laughed a little as they moved down the circular drive. "Cabin huh? Rustic, she said."

Leon smirked a little. "For Adam? It's rustic. It's downright spartan."

She glanced at his face as he keyed them in. Helena moved passed him into the cabin the moment the door was open. "You're a Kennedy. Is this what a cabin looks like to the Kennedys?"

Leon lifted the corner of his mouth in a small smile. "Nah. This is a hole in the wall to the Kennedys."

Jill laughed as she followed him in.

The inside was even better than the outside. It was bearskin rugs and hand carved tables. It was top of the line stainless steel appliances in a gourmet kitchen. It was Italian leather sofas and hunting heads hung in the enormous living room with its massive fireplace. Stags were watching them and massive bucks. Jill shuddered under their beady dead eyes.

To the far side of the massive sitting room, a beautiful piano sat forlornly. It was black, beautiful, and a Steinway Grand. It looked like no one had played it in a long time. Her fingers itched, telling her she should. She should sit down on the bench and let the ivory love her delicate stroking.

Leon closed the door and drew her attention back to him. She met his eyes as he locked the door and secured it with the passcode.

"Let me take him, Leon. I'm going to give him a bath and put him down."

He shook his head, smiling a little. "You go get in a shower and treat that leg. I got him."

Her belly shivered. He wanted to take care of the little boy that snored on his shoulder. He wanted to give him a bath and put him to bed. Did he see what she saw? Children don't like me, he'd said. A defense mechanism, clearly, for a man who'd never stopped to consider what life looked like when you stopped fighting.

I see you Leon Kennedy, she thought with a roll of warmth, I see the love in you.

She'd known him three days.

She'd been looking for him all her life.

Leon shifted Ben in his arms and moved into the big bathroom to the far side. The little boy was groggy but awake. He sat him down on the toilet seat and went about setting up a bath for him. The warm moist arm swirled around them as Leon took the grungy jacket from him and started to throw it away.

Ben grabbed it, shaking his head. "No. Please?"

Touched, Leon hung the filthy jacket on the back of the door instead. They stripped the little boy to his grimey skin and pocked him in with bubbles and a smile. He sighed, perking up at the first touch of it on his feet and toes.

Leon washed his hair while Ben scrubbed his toes and knees. Ben just...he talked. He talked about the time he saw a pony and when he touched a frog as big as his hand. He talked about his favorite color (it was blue) and how he had eleven shirts in different shades of it. He talked about how he liked dogs and had always wanted one but his mom said NO WAY.

"Did you have a dog?"

Leon speared fingers through his hair and laughed a little where he was perched on the toilet seat flipping through data on his phone. "Nope. No dog either. My Mom said dogs were stupid and told me to go away when I asked."

Ben shook his head sagely. "Your Mom sounds mean."

Leon glanced at him as the little boy soaped his belly. He considered the wise nature of a four year old boy. The kid knew shit, no lie there. "She was. She was a bad Mom. I bet your Mom was a good Mom."

Ben made a little sound and sniffled. "She was a good Mom. Is it ok to cry when I miss her?"

Misty eyed for him, Leon rubbed his neck a little. "I think that's ok, pal. We're supposed to miss people we love."

"I hope she died before the big boom. So it didn't hurt."

Yeah. The kid knew shit...no lie.

"Me too, buddy."

Ben sniffled again and wiped his cheeks. Leon picked him up and wrapped him in a towel, briskly drying him off. When he was all bundled up, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Leon's neck. He sniffled into his shoulder.

Undone, Leon snuggled him close in the big brown towel.

Ben queried, "You think Jill will be a good Mom?"

Jill was standing outside the door, against the wall, one hand to her mouth to hold her silence.

Leon laughed a little. "I think Jill was made to be a Mom. You like her?"

"She's nice. And she's funny. If she can bake pie, I think she'll be ok."

"A wise man." Leon picked him up and held him close for a minute. "Let's get you into bed, big hero. Even Batman needs sleep."

Ben yawned against his neck. "I don't want to sleep alone."

"...you won't be alone. I won't leave you, Ben. I promise."

"I know you won't. I didn't leave you either. Member dat? Even after it tried to eat you. I lied. I said I would. I didn't. I'm a bad hero. Don't be mad."

His heart. His fucking heart. It ached. And he didn't think it could hold anymore in it. Like the goddamn Grinch - it had grown three sizes. It was full of a girl with bad jokes and a boy with curly hair. It was full.

Leon kissed his temple, holding on to him. A little boy had managed to do what others had been failing at for fifteen fucking years: he'd killed Leon Kennedy. He'd opened him up and killed him where he stood. Not with guns or knives or pain...with love. It fairly destroyed him to feel it.

And he wondered how he'd ever gone a day without it.

"I'm not mad, Ben. I'm not mad at you. But I wouldn't risk you for anything on Earth. Anything. Not even me."

And the boy answered, "But I'm just Ben. Just Ben. I'm not a hero. There's only one Leon Kennedy. What happens to us if you die? We can't make it wif-out you. I can't protect two girls. I'm not big enough."

Leon curled around him now, giving up. He just...he gave up. He stood in the bathroom with that little boy held against him and rocked. And he just didn't have the words anymore. He couldn't find them. Ben had stolen them...along with his heart. But he whispered, "You're my hero, buddy. You're mine."

And the woman in the hallway agreed.

Jill, sensing the right time to retreat, went up the first set of stairs she came to. Her heart was pounding so hard. The little boy...he wanted love. Did the man holding him see what she saw? Did he see himself reflected in that lost little boy? Did he know what she knew? That they were made for each other? Ben needed Leon Kennedy...and Leon needed that boy.

She heard Helena in the shower somewhere down the hallway. Jill chose the first bedroom she came to and stepped in.

It was enormous. It was clearly the master. It had a huge king sized bed down in shades of blue and hunter green. It had a dozen pillows plumped and tossed on it a variety of shades from brown to blue. The rug she crossed was Persian and would likely be soft under her bare feet. It looked like a cloud. It probably felt like a cloud too.

A wet bar sat to one side, stocked with expensive liquor and surrounded by a shiny mahogany bar top and fancy, filigreed backed stools. She could see herself fixing a drink at the bar before she racked out. The whole wall behind the bar was a mirror.

The bathroom was blue, powder blue. It was clearly a woman's touch. The first lady was all OVER the bathroom. She dropped filthy clothes on the bathroom floor. The dress peeled off with a slurping sound. The boots clunked onto the pretty pale blue tile beneath her.

The shower was all iron gray slate. It was a huge waterfall head that spilled moist, beautiful water down and sprayers in the walls. She climbed in, she used the expensive soap in the alcove. It smelled like lavender and English saddle soap.

She checked her leg as she washed. The puncture was already healing. That was the thing about, had always been the thing about her, she healed. Since Raccoon City…she was always healing. Fast. She healed fast.

The leg was pink and scarring. She'd scar. She always scarred. But the bleeding was done. Already. Jill slid out of the shower and toweled herself off. She wrapped it around her body and moved into the bedroom.

There was a soft blue nightgown lying on the bed. Someone had put it there for her. Touched, she shifted and dropped the towel. She slipped on the cotton and it settled like silk over her skin. It was spaghetti strings and lace and shimmery blue.

Jill toweled her streaming blonde hair dry and padded barefoot over the beautiful rug. It was, indeed, soft as a cloud. She moved down the hallway and listened to the voices. Low and gruff, soft and female, and laughter.

She paused, listening. She couldn't hear them, not exactly, but she could hear the tone. The tone was good. It was good to hear Helena laughing. She didn't think the other woman would be able to find the joy when she stopped and thought about Debra. Helena was a survivor. She was going to make it. It was a good feeling to know it.

And her heart...her heart...it just...beat for him. Here was a man that could make a girl laugh on the worst day of her life. He was a man that found humor in the horrid and hope when there was nothing but desolation. He didn't let you dwell, didn't let you die, and didn't let you down. He was making that girl laugh in that room on the day they lost their reputations, lost their families, and lost their lives...essentially. He was Leon Kennedy.

She'd known him for three days.

She'd been looking for him all her life.


	12. Chapter 12

**\- Where have you been all my life?-**

* * *

 **Lanshiang China 2013**

* * *

Jill stepped into the bedroom to her left. There was a pile of his ruined clothes on the floor. Clearly, this had been where he'd gone to shower and change. She was curious why he hadn't come to her bedroom. And then she saw Ben asleep in the bed.

The little boy was in a big red t-shirt and curled up in the mounds of soft white blankets. He had a down comforter tucked over him. He had a fat teddy bear tucked into his arms. Where had the bear come from?

Jill leaned on the door frame, pressing her cheek there to watch him snore. His coppery skin was dark amongst the pale sheets. If she'd had the baby she'd carried, she'd have an eight year old child now. Ben was close to five, if she was to guess his age. Her hand lowered and pressed against her belly. Flat, smooth, lean and toned – it was a warrior's belly. Would she trade it all to get back the child she'd lost?

She thought of Chris. She'd come back from Africa a different woman. He'd tried to close the distance in them for awhile. But it was too far. The time was too great. The pain was too large. They'd parted best friends. She had no regrets there about saying goodbye to him. He'd focused on the fight and she on her recovery. She'd side stepped the battles for the administrative role. She took small missions: mostly fetch and carry. But she built an empire while Chris raged against the world. It was how they had ripped the BSAA from a disgrace to a dynasty.

Best friends against the world.

But sometimes she thought of the child they'd lost. Sometimes, she wondered what the child would be like. His dark hair, her smile. Would it play piano? Chris was hopeless of course. Hopeless. But it had always been her first real love. Before boys, before books, before knives and the fight…she'd loved the piano. Her useless father hadn't invested in much but he'd given her that at least. He'd given her the piano.

She turned from watching Ben sleep and moved toward the stairs. She was three steps down when she heard it…the piano. She froze on the stairs. Her hand lifted and spread, settling against her breastbone to feel the rapid thunder of her heart.

Jill knew, even before she turned the corner on the stairs, whom it would be playing the piano.

She'd known him for three days.

She'd been looking for him all her life.

* * *

And there he was. Shirtless in a pair of gray pajama bottoms, he sat on the bench and stroked the piano like it was his lover. He tickled the keys and coaxed her to give her music flawlessly. Leon touched the piano with such skill, such precise and perfect ability; Jill felt her heart stutter and drop.

She'd known him for three days now.

She'd known him all her life.

The boy and the music was the girl and the music. She stood so close to him...and yearned.

This was what she'd be giving up to get back the life she'd lost with Chris. This man. This moment. The boy up the stairs. She didn't know what that life looked like. But she knew what the last three days had looked like. Strength, humor, passion…and love.

At the piano, he poured himself into the refrain of the song. It was lilting and soft. It was haunting and beautiful. It poured from his hands like the grief that permeated from his body. Here in this house where Adam had played this piano. Here in this house where Leon had come so many times growing up. It was all that remained of the man who'd been like a father to him. All that remained of the man who'd burned in that city.

How did he let go of that? How did he say goodbye?

Aloud, he whispered, "I'm so sorry. I'll avenge you...I swear to _god_ I will."

She knew he was hurting. It was all over him. She only knew she was going to take the pain from him now. It was time. He'd taken hers without even trying. Now was when they healed each other. Now.

Jill moved down the stairs toward him. The sun had started to rise beyond the trees that were so beautifully exposed in the floor to ceiling windows that lined the main room. It cast the dampness of his blonde hair with red. He looked strawberry blonde as he roved over the keys and spilled that haunting melody around them. His back was strewn with scars and wounds and bruises. His face was a little swollen, a little bruised, and a little tired.

The circles under his eyes told the story of a man who'd pushed, who'd fought, and who'd nearly died to get them here. A hero, was Leon Kennedy…and a wizard on the piano. His biceps bunched and flexed with each movement of his hands on the delicate keys. He had a tattoo of his RPD badge on his back left shoulder. One day…he'd served on the force for one whole day..and he'd branded the image on his body forever.

Loyal, was Leon Kennedy…and a maestro on the piano.

And maybe she'd have stopped and left him alone to his moment and to his music...but he closed his eyes while he played and his beautiful face was etched with grief and regret. It was marked in the lines on his skin and the growth of beard on his cheeks. It was in his breathing and his moving and his song. The grief was in that song. Haunting and beautiful and raw. It bled from him like poison from a wound.

And she didn't want him to hurt anymore. Not anymore.

She hadn't realized she was moving toward him. She didn't think he had either, until she slid over him and settled on his lap, straddling him. What really turned her on was that he didn't hesitate, and didn't stop playing the song, even as she put her weight on him.

His ear laid against her chest to listen to her heart but he kept on playing, muscle memory and practice, and sheer talent. Another check in the column of things she liked about him. He was unflappable, and so unpredictable, and so immensely diverse. How could she have guessed the depths of him?

She stroked his hair and yearned for him.

Leon thought maybe this was Adam's answer. Maybe this was how he said goodbye. Maybe it was letting go of what you couldn't control and living for what you could. Maybe it was saying goodbye even though you weren't ready. And pushing toward what waited beyond the pain. Maybe saying goodbye was just something you couldn't do...alone.

For the first time, he wasn't alone to grieve it.

He turned his face and kissed her over the smooth skin of her breastbone. He kissed her heart and he let the feel of her fill up the sadness and make it just a little easier to breathe.

Jill put her mouth to the side of his neck and licked a wet, smooth line from collarbone to pec. Her nails raked gently through the feathering of hair that decorated him there. She pressed warm, moist kisses over the rigid scope and breadth of his chest, delighting in the muscled strength of him. Her teeth teased at the line of his clavicle and the bundle of scars on one shoulder. She feathered her mouth against the bruises on his neck and nipped at one delicate ear.

She skimmed her hands down the ridged and wonderful planes of his stomach, marveling at the muscles there, plenty to tantalize without being overly defined. He wasn't ripped out, like a body builder, even though it would have been easy for his body to lean that way. He was simply muscular, strong, with a suggestion of definition beneath the warm, wonderful skin that turned into goosebumps beneath her teasing nails.

Her mouth turned, kissing smooth and soft, up his neck and along his jaw. He hadn't shaved in almost a week now and the hair had gone from a shadow to the beginnings of an interesting beard. Not stubbly, it had passed into soft, and it met her lips sweetly as she crossed his jaw to his cheek.

She kissed the tip of his nose, still cool from the outside, and both of his closed eye lids. And her thumbs traced his soft and wonderful mouth. She nuzzled his growing beard with her nose, loving the tickle of the soft hair.

"How long until it's a full beard?"

Her voice was soft in the quiet against the back drop of music from his still playing hands. Eyes closed, he answered, softly, "Won't be much longer. Hasn't taken me longer than a few weeks since I was about fifteen. Doesn't grow in the way you think. More goatee then beard. Why?"

"I think I'd like to see it on you. Will you let it go for me?"

He stopped playing and his eyes opened. This close, they were startlingly blue, almost the shocking blue of ice and winter sky. They were so close that their noses brushed as he answered.

"Yes."

She brushed her nose against his, once, twice. He didn't move, not a muscle, as she cupped his face; ran her thumbs along his cheeks.

Jill brushed their mouths together, so soft, so smooth. She whispered, "We should get some sleep. We should go upstairs and get some sleep."

His hands picked back up the song; his eyes held hers, unblinking. "We could do that." He craned his head and pressed his mouth to hers. "Will you come to bed with me, Jill Valentine?"

Jesus.

Her fingers twisted into the hair at the base of his neck. "Is there a woman alive that would say no to that?"

And now he grinned, and those eyes of his were painfully beautiful. She couldn't and wouldn't understand that the man looking at her was thinking the same exact thing. They were, to the untrained eye, two people ENRAPTURED with each other.

He murmured, "Probably, yeah."

And Jill whispered, "She's a fucking idiot."

For Leon Kennedy, there was a defining moment when he knew she was what he'd been searching for all along. This woman that protected and pushed and survived. This woman that had been used and abused and tortured and still knew how to grab on, hold on, and keep fighting. This woman that stole his breath with her kisses and his heart with her laughter. This woman...she was what came after the fight. That day in Tall Oaks, he'd looked up and saw her...and he'd known. This is what came after.

"Jill..." He brought her mouth to him to kiss her. It was the tender touch of lips that smoothed and soothed and aroused. He scooped her wet hair back from her face to see her. To really see her. The pale skin, the eye like shimmery sea water within glass, the pink lips of a perfect mouth. She was all that pale blonde hair and high cheekbones with a pert little nose and delicate ears. His hands skimmed the tempting curve of her collarbone and traced along the hollow of her throat. She cupped his face and held it as he slid his palms down to roll the weight of her breasts within them in that little nightgown she wore.

Those eyes of hers blurred, filling with softness and need. And he said it again, against her mouth, "Jill..."

Their lips skimmed, sank together, and blended. She whispered, "Take me to bed, Leon Kennedy. I need you."

It was the right answer.

And the first time in his life that he felt the same for a woman. Ever. He needed her. They needed each other.

The answer to the pain inside of him was in her. The relief from it was in her. And in them.

Before she could do more than blink, he lifted her and carried her to the stairs. Strong, she mused, he didn't even strain under her weight as he carried her up them clasped around his front like a monkey. Her legs looped at his waist, her hands caught at his face. And she was kissing him now, smooth and wet, and all tongue. It was all tongue as he carried her into the room she'd showered in and spilled her back on the bar beside the door.

She opened her legs wider so he could shift between them to rub his groin on her. Jill made a sound of desperate need. So different, she thought madly, then that first night together. This was nearly painfully slick and smooth. It wasn't fucking. What was it?

But, she knew that answer, of course, she did…it was making love.

His hands slid up the outside of her thighs. The nightgown spilled around him.

For Leon, he only knew one thing. She was it. She was the only goddamn thing that made sense in that moment. The only thing he wanted. She was his Achilles heel and his saving grace and the only hope he had left. He needed her. And her face? It said she needed him too.

Whatever else was true…that was the only truth he needed in that moment.

One hand slid up her chest, it curved over the scars that lingered there from the device she'd worn for so long. He gripped the base of her throat in his hand, so gentle, so desperate. Jill leaned into the touch to take his mouth. She gave him the spill of her tongue for it as he murmured her name there.

She felt him shift and her eyes flew open at the brush of him between her thighs.

She whispered, "Oh my god…" And opened for him.

Her body bowed, shock and pleasure speared into her at the first hard thrust of him, the slap of skin musical, magical, like the notes that had come from the piano before. This was its own kind of music; primitive and pure. She could see the reflection of them in the mirror beyond, she could watch his body, with his pants still clinging to him as he pushed himself inside of her. Her nightgown tangled about her; her long, long legs lifting to wrap about him.

The music of their bodies spread from groin to ground, she could see and feel herself as the orgasm built in a red, red rush inside of her. He grabbed her hands and held them above her head, drawing the line of her body out on the bar beneath him. She lifted, meeting each thrust of his body with her own. His free hand shifted, slid, and cupped against her groin. His thumb gave two careless sweeps across the apex of her body and she burst; her body becoming blood and pleasure and light.

She bucked, bowing upward to the thrill of his touch, even as the first burst of it split her skin and seared her bones. But she didn't wait, couldn't. She pushed and spilled him backward to sit on the stool. She slapped down on his lap again.

She loved the burst of surprise and pleasure that speared across his face as she took him into her, her thighs lifting and lowering, expertly using him. Jill milked him, holding his hands behind his back now as she did. Thrilled at the power play, Leon tested her strength and was delighted to discover he had to work to get his hands free.

Slim or not, she was no weak little thing. He freed his hands and cupped her buttocks beneath the nightgown; lifting and lowering her on him faster, faster, even as he surged up to meet the push and pull of her wonderful wetness atop him. She grabbed handfuls of his hair now, the soft cotton nightgown settling around their merging bodies. The sweats were rough on her thighs and the material abraded the sweet softness of her as she bounced; as he lifted her.

Undone, Leon looped an arm around her waist and picked her up, easily, without even straining. Still, inside her, he walked himself out of his pants as he moved; she wrapped her legs around his flanks, still trying to take him in and out of her. He thought he'd die right there from it.

Her back slapped against the mattress of his bed and stole her breath from the force of it. He braced her there and shifted, pushing her knees farther open. His hand quested down again, traced the moist heat of her even as he pulled back, and then watched himself push inside of her again. Tantalized by the sight of it, he flicked his thumb back and forth over the bud of pleasure at the entrance of her body. It was tight and engorged, hungry for his attention; he flicked it in time with his slow, lazy thrusts.

Jill shuddered and tried to force him back into a frenzied ride but he held her there with a hand on her groin, teasing her. He nearly pulled out of her and then slid back in, watching her eyes lose focus. Jill felt a little panic at the look on his face. What was that? But, of course, she knew that answer too.

That was what love looked like.

He pressed into her body and rocked her soul. His thumb delved, slid, and she gasped. Her hands grabbed his face and held it. Her back bowed. He shifted her around and slid the straps of her nightgown down. And then he put his mouth to her needy breasts.

She watched the crown of him there. He suckled, he laved, he loved…and she was done. She was done for him. She gasped, "Leon…god…"

And it was probably one in the same anyway.

She came around him. She came for him. She shivered and gasped and spilled. And she knew she'd probably make him pie any god damn time he asked her to.

His eyes were closed as he lifted his head and kept sliding in and out of her milking body. She sucked him in, she gripped his back, she grabbed his face. And quivered, clenching, and shaking…she whispered, "Look at me."

And so he did, slowly. There was such pain in those eyes, such sadness. There was a great, dark, well of grief and rage in this man. It was so thick, so wide, so strong that it threatened to pull and push and prod and destroy him. She'd known it. She'd seen it. She could relate to it because she had her own. Her own demons to battle. She'd survived it and so would he. How could she show him that the darkness lied? That it wouldn't be the only thing that waited there for him? How could she show him the way out of it?

But, of course, she knew that answer too.

Her thumbs traced his lips, once, twice. And she pulled him down to her.

And Jill murmured, "I think I'm falling in love with you, Leon Kennedy."

And the love rolled wet and sweet into the pain in him and absorbed it, destroyed it, and sent it away on a cresting wave of wonderous warmth.

Her mouth pressed against his, soft. She watched his eyes flutter, hold, and he shuddered above her. He drew back, studied her, skimmed the backs of his fingers against her cheek. And his biceps bunched as he leaned down in a push-up motion and answered the press of her mouth with his own.

One tiny touch, followed by another, and a third. Jill felt the panic gnaw at her guts and fought against it; she slid her hands up his shoulders now to cup the back of his neck. She pulled him down to her and their mouths met smooth and silky, testing each other, tasting each other. It was explorative, almost chaste, and the flavor of him was almost better than anything she'd ever tasted before.

He went hilt deep into her needy body once more, rocked them both with it, and spilled there with a groan of sound that shivered softly between them. She clutched him, gasping, shaking, and feeling him in her with each pulse of his completion. Complete was the right word. Here, in this moment, they were complete together.

With a sigh, Jill felt him shift, slide his arm around her shoulders and roll to the side. The kiss deepened, hardened, turned wet and needy. She felt the warm weight of his tongue tease and retreat and tempt her to the same fate. The brush of his beard excited her and she gave up, gave in, and let the wash of him fill her.

He kissed her and kissed her and kissed her until he was out of air and she was swollen from it, her lips damp and happy.

He held her face in his hands and met her eyes. "Jill." He said, out loud, because he needed to hear her name.

And Jill whispered, "Leon." Because it was almost like listening to his music on that piano.

They didn't sleep there. They lay together, staring at each other in the rising dawn. Their hands traced and curved, their eyes held and merged. They both knew they should talk about what came next. They should talk about Adam and Tall Oaks, Chris and Edonia, the C-Virus and the fight...they should talk about all of that. But they didn't. They held on, watching each other.

They'd known each other three days.

They'd been looking for each other all their lives.

Jill said, softly, "Where have you been all my life, Leon Kennedy?"

And he didn't crack a joke. He didn't quip an answer. He just said, "I've been looking for you, Jill Valentine. Don't you know that?"

And they shifted together to hold on. Her face in his neck, his on her shoulder. When the sweet softness of it spilled across them and lulled them toward release; they shifted without a word. She righted her nightgown and he slipped back on his sleeping pants.

They moved together into the hallway and their hands found each other to slide together. He tugged her into him once more to hold her. He just held her for a long moment with their cheeks beside each other and one hand on his chest to feel his heartbeat. And then they climbed into bed.

His hand skimmed her cheek. Hers slid over his bicep. And both of their arms curled and rested over the little boy that lay between them.

They didn't let him sleep alone.

Jill said, "I don't want to sleep. If I sleep, when we wake up...this? This is done."

"Why is it done?"

They were whispering. His face, she thought, it was so soft. She'd known him for three days. She was in love with him. She could feel it in her fucking bones.

"We have to fight. We have to fight on. This isn't done. But I want it to be done, Leon. I want it to be done so I can just..."

Their eyes held now. Leon laid his cheek on Ben's head and stole her heart. He finished the thought for her, "So we can just be together. So you can start raising this little boy between us."

Jill nodded, quietly, gently. "Yeah. Yeah. I'm starting to think I might be done with the fight. Finally. After this? I think I retire from it."

Leon was nodding. He cupped her face and skimmed her cheek with his thumb. "I was thinking of that when you found me in that cafe, Jill. That maybe I was done. Maybe I was done with the fight. So...maybe that's what happens when we finish this. Maybe I retire too."

She eyed him, breathing low and soft. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. And maybe we raise this kid together."

Her breath caught and held. "Leon...we've known each other three days. Are you sure?"

He laughed a little now, eyes twinkling. "Honey, we've been inches from each other for fifteen years. Three days or not, you're what I want, Jill. This kid right here? He saved my life more than once. He's alone and he needs a Dad. My Dad? Utter fucking asshat. Stupid. Senator shithead type. I was raised by a nanny. I want to teach this kid right here to ride a bike and throw a ball...and bake a pie."

Jill laughed a little, misty eyed. "You can't bake."

"Nope. Not even a little. But I can love a woman that does."

She caught her breath a little. "Leon..."

"Yeah. I'm saying it. I love you. It's there. Three days or not. Say yes. And let's do this. People like us, Jill, we don't need more time. There's no time but now. This is it. It's all we got. Say yes."

"What am I saying yes to?" She laughed a little and was nuts for him. "You asking me to marry you? After three days?"

"Yeah I am." No hesitance. Just like that. He lobbed it between them like a grenade. It obliterated her and left her breathless. It was him on the piano and him in the cafe and him upside down kissing her. It was him. Had it always been him? Was that why she'd never found her happiness and kept it before? Was it always going to be him?

Leon laughed a little now, "I said I wasn't the kid type. I said I wasn't the marrying type. I lied. I just hadn't found you yet. Say yes. Let me keep you. You fill me up, Jill, and you challenge me and you kiss me in the worst possible situations...and you make me laugh when I want to sit down on the floor and cry. Say yes."

Was there any other answer but that? Jill whispered, "Is there a woman alive that would say no to that?"

And now he laughed, feeling hope in his guts that he hadn't felt since the world had caught fire around them. "Probably."

"She's a fucking idiot. And it's her loss. Yes. I love you. I probably loved you the moment we went upside down and dangled there. Three days is more than enough time. The world came in to being in seven, they say."

Leon cupped her face. "My world? It came into being in three apparently."

And that's why he was the one for her. That was why. Puns and humor...and that. What romance swirled in him. What love. Click. Yep. She loved him. It was done. They'd been looking for each other all their lives.

Repleted, content, and thrilled to have each other they slipped into sleep together now, holding on...and crazy for each other.


	13. Chapter 13

**\- Wait for me - Yearn for me-**

* * *

 **Tatchi, China 2013**

* * *

Jill woke first.

She opened her eyes to the gray fog of a rainy day. A sweet, soft grumble of thunder accompanied her awakening. The room was filled with cool, misty light. She lay for a moment, listening to the rain on the windows and the roof and watching what lie in the bed before her.

Ben had rolled at some point. He had one arm looped around Leon's neck and one leg hooked on his hip. It was a sleep hug if she'd ever seen one. He snored adorably and snarfled a little bit with big breaths. Leon was on his side facing her still; one arm pillowed under his head and the other draped over the boy that cuddled him.

It took her a moment to realize the hand pillowed under his head was still wrapped around hers. Their fingers were intertwined and aligned. Her free arm was looped over the both of them. A sleep hug indeed. They'd dog piled together in the enormous bed and held on.

Jill shifted, making sure not to disturb them, and her thumb traced Leon's mouth as it went. Sound asleep and he still kissed it, shifting a little as he resumed that quiet breathing. He didn't snore. She had no doubt that if he DID start snoring, it would be adorable.

Jill slid out of the bed and moved toward the closet. Hunnigan hadn't lied. She'd left them with a closet full of clothes. An assault bag was tucked on the floor that would most likely be filled with weapons.

Jill fingered a silk blouse and sighed a little. She gripped a smooth satiny robe off one of the hangers and slipped it on over the nightgown and she went toward the stairs to get some coffee. Hopefully, the kitchen had some. She'd seen the expensive Keurig waiting to brew her a delicious cup of liquidy delight.

The smell of roasting meat and brewing coffee hit her the moment she turned the stairs. She finished her descent to find Helena in the kitchen cooking. Helena was fully dressed for the day. She wore a little white tank top beneath a brown buttoned over shirt. It was paired with camel colored khaki skinny jeans tucked into knee-high, rich brown leather boots that hugged her curvy calves like a second skin. The shoulder holster and thigh holster she wore made a cute outfit, rugged. Whatever else was true: Helena was rocking it with style.

She turned when she saw Jill approaching. And her smile was soft on her pretty face. Pretty, Jill thought objectively, she reminded Jill of Lara Croft in a way. She had that rich dark hair and full lips. Those lips were shiny without gloss and looked bee stung they were so plump. She was beautiful. It had gotten lost somewhere under the rush to safety but Jill was taking the moment to look at the girl who'd traveled so far with them. The girl that had lost her sister after trying so hard to save her. The girl that had betrayed the President in a mad attempt to protect the only thing in the world she'd cared about.

Jill smiled at her and moved forward. It was a good hug. Helena looked like she needed the hug. She held on for a long moment, breathing softly. The sadness on that pretty face made Jill hurt for her. A good girl, she was too young for such grief. In the light of the day, she figured Helena was likely in her young twenties. No lines on her face, no wrinkles, no gray hair. Pretty and young and already in the Secret Service. She'd had a promising career before Simmons had come to take it away.

They separated and Jill rubbed her arm a little. "Better after some sleep?"

Helena nodded and offered her a cup of coffee. Jill laughed, poking her unruly blonde hair behind her ear, "I'm dying for some. Seriously."

They sat at the table and shared eggs and bacon and coffee. They talked about Debra. Helena told her about her transfer from the CIA to the Secret Service when Debra's abusive boyfriend had put her in the hospital. In turn? Helena had shot him.

They held eyes. Helena said, "Yeah. I walked in…he had her on the floor. He just…kept hitting her. So I shot him. No warning. Nothing. I drew down on him and shot him in the back."

Jill gripped her hand on the table and squeezed. "I would have too. Trust me. I've done worse, Helena. Much worse."

"They transferred me to a desk jockey job, took my weapon, made me a glorified gopher. When Hunnigan came along to recruit me, I was THRILLED. I'd already had one mark against me for using excessive force on a murder suspect. Honestly, I figured I was done. And then to be rejected from the DSO? I figured I wasn't just done…I was fucked. But Hunnigan interceded for me and got me transferred to the SS. I served faithfully. I had no clue Simmons was pulling the strings to get me promoted or redirected. And when the time was right? He took Debra and blackmailed me."

Helena shifted and put her face in her hands, rubbing her tired eyes. "I can't take back what I did, Jill. I wish I could. All I can do now is finish Simmons, clear your name and Leon's, and try to fix some of the damage. I'll serve time when it's all done, I deserve at least that. But I can't until Simmons is dead or in custody. I can't."

Jill gripped her hand again. And she answered that desperate look. "I was in the control of Albert Wesker for years. He injected me with a compound that eradicated my free will. I became his puppet. I became his weapon. He infused me with power and made me kill for him. A lot of what happened to me is classified; I can't tell you exactly what happened. But I can tell you that I'd take it back if I could. I'd take it back. I couldn't control myself, Helena, but I was still aware. Sometimes? We can't stop things from happening. All we can do is try to clean up the mess we've made when it's over."

Helena nodded, eyes teary and hurting. "Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. You get it. Thank you. I can't ever pay a big enough price for what I've done…but I can't try to set some of it right. It's all I can do now."

Jill shook her head and held that teary gaze, "You lost Debra. You've nearly died. You're still trying to fix it. You've paid the price already Helena. Stop punishing yourself. You've paid the price enough. Forgive yourself, Helena. It's time."

Helena made a sound of grief and put her face in her hands to cry, so, so quietly. She whispered, "I don't know if I can."

Jill shifted around the table to hold her close. They clung together while Helena sobbed. And Jill answered, stroking her hair. "You can. You'll find a way. I did. You will too. You will, I promise you."

When Helena had cried herself empty, Jill left her napping on the couch and went upstairs to get dressed for the day. She had hope that Helena would come out the other side of her grief better, stronger, and unstoppable. A good girl, she'd done the wrong thing for the right reasons. Didn't they all sometimes?

They were still waiting on Hunnigan to call with a plane for them. Jill went into the master bedroom where she'd showered the night before and laid the robe on the bed. She slipped the nightgown off and mourned the comfort of it.

She didn't deny herself another shower though. She stepped into the heated spray from all twelve shower heads and sighed. The spill of it felt so good on her skin. She knew once they began hunting Simmons again, it could be awhile before she had another hot shower.

Once, a mission with Chris had left them high and dry without bathing for a week and half. They had NOT been best friends by the end of it. They had been STINKY friends though. They'd also avoided each other on the helicopter ride to safety when it was done. Opposite ends of it. It had been…pretty raunchy. Chris smelled like feet and sweaty balls when he was filthy. Her? She'd smelled worse.

She didn't think Leon Kennedy would have been sniffing around her then. Nope. He'd have run away wincing.

Jill soaped up her legs and bent down to wash her feet.

Later, she'd think there was a reason they called him the Ghost. You didn't hear him unless he wanted you to. He moved like shadows and secrets and smooth, sensual need. He moved like something you tried to catch, felt slip through your fingers, and spent the rest of your life coveting.

She rinsed her toes and saw the water shift around her feet. There were suddenly four feet in the shower. Hers weren't even the cutest, she mused with a little smile.

She started to turn and rise and he turned her into the wall, planted her hands on it while the spray hit her in all the right places, and slid into her body in an almost single, wonderful, bone-numbing move.

The Ghost - he wasn't a ghost. He was a demon - he'd come to call her soul from her body with the touch of him. It answered and spilled out of her mouth on his whispered name. It swirled around them with the water. Where had he been all her life? Inches away, seconds away, a shadow...no...a _ghost_.

Her body just…it opened for him. Like a glove, it fit around the length and girth and feel of him with a precision that stole her breath and spilled it from her mouth on a soft cry. He murmured her name, tilted her hips to him, and rode her body.

Sharp, fast, it was nearly desperate now. The slap and clap of water and need spilled around them while they came together in the steamy air. He had one hand on her shoulder to drive her back on his body and the other on one perfect breast to mold it to him. She shoved back on him like she'd impale herself into her chest with it.

It was utterly fast. Her body clutched and sucked and demanded. His pulsed and pushed and delivered. Jill gasped, breathlessly, "I'm gonna –"

And she couldn't finish the statement. She just came. She came apart in his arms after less than a minute. She just fell apart with a shuddering cry. His hands guided and turned her. They pressed her back against the wall. One leg lifted to wrap around his hips and he kept sliding into her quaking, coming, hungry little body.

She grabbed Leon's face and took his tongue with a keen of sound. And he caught her beneath the slick curve of her ass and lifted her until she was wrapped around him. He braced her, held her without straining, and angled her against the wall to take all of him. It was brutally sharp, wonderfully fast, and she sucked his tongue, stole his breath, and swallowed his seed as he pumped it into her waiting body with a grunt.

Jill wrapped herself around him as he finished there, lifting and setting her down on his pulsing length. Her arms curled around his head and pressed his mouth into her slick breasts. He filled his mouth with them as he shuddered and ground her down on his body while he finished in her. And then his gripping hands shifted, lifted, and left her impaled on his shaft while he slid them up her back to curl her closer to him.

Yeah, she thought, a ghost he was indeed. He was going to haunt her forever.

A facile, fluid, tongue rolling kiss finished them off. Jill shivered in the boiling water and whispered, "I love you."

It was, hands down, the best sex he'd ever had. Where had she been all his life? Inches away, seconds away, a shadow..no...a _dream._ He'd dreamed of her a hundred times in his life. When his world was falling apart, when there was no light to break up the dark...he'd seen her. He'd been looking for her all his life.

He scooped her hair out of her face and smiled at her, "I bet you say that to all the guys."

And now the laughter bubbled up in her. Jill chuckled softly and hugged him to her. "Only the ones that take me bungie jumping and make bad jokes and have perfect fucking hair."

Amused, he eased her to her feet on the shower floor to rinse her off. "Is it perfect? It's my thing I guess. I've had it cut like this…essentially…for so long that I think it's like my calling card now. Maybe it's outlived its time. Maybe I should cut it off."

Horrified, she turned to face him. And he laughed a little at the look on her face. "Or maybe not."

She washed it for him now, running her fingers through it. "Don't ever cut it. Ever. The last time I saw you…was probably ten years ago."

Interested, he met her eyes while she soaped his hair for him. "Yeah?"

"Oh yeah. Chris threw had that birthday party at Claire's place for her. You showed up with…some redhead." He was having an epiphany. And it was a big one. Her face flashed in his mind and hung out there.

Tongue in cheek, he made a face as he tried to recollect it. "Hmm. Don't remember the redhead. Throw me a description here, Officer Valentine."

Grinning, Jill recited, "The Perp was approximately five foot two and a hundred ten pounds. She had fake red hair all teased around a witchy face with a big long nose and stingy little lips."

Leon stroked her smooth ass while she rinsed his hair, laughing a little. "How can you remember that? I don't even know who she was after all this time. A friend of a friend or something."

"Ah…I don't forget faces. And yours? It resonates."

He opened his eyes as she finished. And the look on her face humbled him. "What a thing to say. You remembered my face?"

Her hands traced it now, thrilling him and rocking him in his soul. "Oh yeah. It's a helluva face, objectively."

He caught her waist to drag her into him. His hand lifted to cup her face now and stroke it. "Yeah? Yours is better. Jill…I remember you now. The minute you said it, I figured out why that day in Tall Oaks when I looked up at you…I felt like I'd known you all my life. We met in Raccoon City before the outbreak. I went there to interview. You needed help changing the tire on your little motorcycle that broke down…in front of the c—"

She grabbed his face and laughed, loud and excited. "The clocktower! Oh my GOD. That WAS you! I remember now too. Skinny little thing you were with all that shaggy hair. I remember thinking you were so adorably awkward. You dropped the tire iron twice and kept muttering under your breath."

Grinning, he kissed her neck and brought her breath out in a sigh. "That was me. I was so nervous. I didn't know how to change a fucking tire. I was TOTALLY guessing. I was trying to impress you. You had all that dark curly hair. And your face….your face, Jill…it stayed with me."

She touched her mouth to his and loved him. "Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah. Honey? That face of yours joined Madonna in my sweaty sheets at night. I changed your tire, went home and jerked off picturing your face."

Oh, he was something. He turned a phrase and made her laugh, yearn a little, and made her love him in one statement. Jill laughed and kissed him, soft and smooth, "Really? Was it good?"

His laugh was muffled as he nibbled her neck and shoulder, "It was good, kid. Seriously. I came so hard I fell off my desk chair, racked my knee, and blew my load all over the ceiling. Not my finest moment but it was all your fault."

And so she laughed. She burst out laughing and held him. And she pictured him bumbling along and blowing his load on random ceilings. It was so comic it almost hurt. She quipped, "Mr. Kennedy...are you blowing your load on things? What an image. I don't think that's how you fight zombies."

"No? You don't think so? I could have blasted one and knocked its head off that day. I nearly blew my own off whacking it." And then? He laughed. He just laughed while holding her and that laugh of his was almost as wonderful as his face.

Jill pulled his face back to see him. He was all grin, all teeth, he looked sated, rested, and happy. Did she look the same? She hoped so. Because she was. She was happy with him. She loved Leon Kennedy.

Whatever else was true. That was how it was.

"That's very dirty, Mr. Kennedy. Are you often known to have your hands in your pants after changing girls tires?"

"Not generally. But when they were jaunty little berets and they keep leaning over my back and pressing their tits on me? It's known to happen."

And now Jill was laughing again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held. "There was no tit pressing, you devil."

"Oh, there was…there was. You just don't remember. Because you weren't looking at me. You were looking at the idiot Redfield."

Smirking, Jill leaned back again to hold his eyes. "Was I? You want to know a secret, Leon Kennedy?"

"I'm dying to know one."

She put her mouth to his and whispered, "I've been changing my own tires since I was fifteen years old."

Oh, the surprise on his face thrilled her. His eyebrows winged up. "You clever little thing. You let me change that damn tire and you didn't even need me to?"

"Not even a little bit." She nipped his mouth while it spilled into a huge grin. "I liked watching you bend over. I was watching your ass. When you left? I had to redo it. I had to put the tire on right because you'd done it all wrong. I didn't care. I watched your adorable little ass in those jeans you were wearing for a half an hour while you tried to help me. So it was a win/win for me."

He reached behind her and killed the water. It tickled and tingled around them as it finished rushing for the drain. The sudden absence of sound was startling. Jill was still grinning. His eyes volleyed over her face, darting back and forth while he studied her.

She said, softly, "I might have gone home and had a party to your face that night…and that ass of yours."

He loved her. He just did. It spilled into him and out of him in a laugh that healed them both. They held in the shower, slick and naked and happy. Leon mused, on a chuckling breath, "The funny part about that will always be that the night before I drove into Raccoon City and had my first…and rather only…shift on the force..."

"Mmm?"

He carried her from the shower while he talked. He didn't even strain. She was a good one twenty and muscled. He carried her like she weighed nothing. And she liked it. So she let him carry her into the bedroom and lay her on the bed. He bounded up next to her and stroked her belly and thighs almost absently. It was that petting thing he did.

"So the night before…I got fucking HAMMERED. I mean, I just tore it up. I closed down two bars and lost a shoe. I pissed on random stuff. I walked down the street with a bottle of scotch singing Irish fucking drinking ballads. I woke up half in a gutter missing my wallet and keys. I might have been robbed. I might have thrown them or given them to a hooker or simply dropped them in a storm drain. I was so fucked up I don't even remember." He watched her face where he was braced on one arm petting her. Jill lay on her back, stroking his face with one hand and the mound of scars on his shoulder with the other.

"My girlfriend dumped me. She pulled the trigger on me and left my poor little-wounded heart all kinds of broken."

Jill's eyes flared and she grinned. She traced his mouth. "Poor baby cop. The saddest boy around. What a fucking idiot she was…thank god."

He grinned and kissed her. "She didn't want to move to Raccoon City. What a dump, she'd yelled. She wanted to marry a Kennedy. Didn't I know I was supposed to be a SENATOR!?"

Jill giggled a little, delighting him. He scooped her close to him to feel the softness of her and the taut muscle of those legs on his.

"So, she cut me loose. The sad tragic story of a boy that tried to drink away his pain." He mused this without any rancor. He didn't have any feelings about that girl anymore. He hadn't really had any then, that he could remember now. He knew how he felt about the girl in his arms though. That part was pretty clear. "I get wasted and wake up late for work on my first day. Worse than that?"

Jill lifted a brow as his hand stroked her smooth little butt. "What's worse than rolling into Raccoon City while it burned?"

He laughed and that look on his face…would it ever stop making her feel about fifteen years old? She wanted to hold on to him naked for a hundred years.

"Well," He grinned again and rolled until he was on top of her. She opened her legs so he could snuggle right up against her. His arms bracketed her head and his hands cupped her face. Hers lifted and stroked over his biceps. "Hung over, I poured my ass into the shower and it wasn't even my girlfriend's face I pictured while I soaped up and knocked one out."

"No?" Her belly fluttered, "No wonder she dumped you."

He laughed and swept her hair off her face to see her. "It was yours. Your face, Jill Valentine, that day in Tall Oaks when I said we should both picture it? I've been picturing it for years. And then one day…I look up and there it is. And now I get to see it every minute."

Oh god.

Her heart stuttered and dropped.

He smiled at her, the cheeky little shit, "You were with me in Raccoon City after all. That day by the clock tower you gave shit like a man and poked fun at me and made me want you. You were in uniform with that beret and those ugly blue pants. And you were beautiful. I didn't get your name that day. I realized that, went back, but you were gone. I asked at the station about you but they looked at me like I was nuts for even asking. I couldn't find you…but I never forgot you."

He'd known her for three days.

He'd been looking for her all his life.

She was his ghost. She'd been haunting him for fifteen years.


	14. Chapter 14

**\- Out of Africa -**

* * *

 **Tatchi, China 2013**

Jill felt the first soft roll of it before it trickled out onto her cheek and spilled down her chin. Undone, he swept that tear with his thumb. "Jill…Jill..I didn't want to make you cry."

She shook her head now, laughing a little. "Not sad. You idiot. You dumb man. You stupid bastard."

Amused, his smile turned into a big grin. "Some people call me Leon."

She smacked his ass and had him jumping. "Why didn't you try harder to find me? I've been looking for you all my life too. At that part where you came with the redhead? I probably stalked you a little bit. Maybe. Maybe I did that. And I thought about your face alone in my bed that night too...and that hair."

Well shit. That arrowed into him and thrummed. He dropped his head and pressed their faces together. She wrapped her legs around him and her arms and made a small sound. They shifted until they were merged like two pieces of the same puzzle.

And he answered, softly, muffled against her shoulder, "We're the same there, Jill Valentine. Maybe we just assume we found each other when we were supposed to. Maybe? We just have to trust the universe on what it's doing."

Jill stroked his back and nodded against his neck. "I loved Chris. Loved him. But it was never like this. For either of us. When he found me in Africa, I remember looking at him and trying to find that thing on his face."

Leon lifted his face from her shoulder. They held eyes. She stroked a hand up his back and watched his eyes hood and soften. She whispered, "Yeah. THAT thing. That. It was all over your face the moment we first started talking in Tall Oaks. Was it all over mine? I felt like I was glowing when I sat there with you."

Jill wanted him to understand about Chris. So, there were no secrets there. "Chris and I didn't look at each other like that for years after Raccoon City. I had this mission after Terragrigia was taken down…"

Leon shifted, scooping her hair from her face to watch her. "I remember it. T-Abyss. I was briefed on it. They tagged me to coordinate with the BSAA on locating Jessica Sherawat after she went MIA."

Jill nodded, surprised. She kept on stroking her hands up his back and down over his ass. It was a nice feeling, being petted "He pushed so hard to save me then. When it was done and we were back at HQ, I remember looking at him and thinking…who pushes that hard to save their partner? I realized, of course, that he loved me. I loved him too. You can't NOT love him. He's gruff and a little volatile sometimes. He flies off the rails with that temper of his and he has a tendency to take it too far with being stoic on missions. But he's got this big capacity for loving. He just wants to save the world. He really, really, just wants to save the world."

Leon pressed a kiss to her mouth and stole her breath. She held his eyes and said, "So, we gave it a shot. Why not? Best friends for years, partners, we loved each other. It was good. I won't lie about that. It was good with us. We knew each other so well. The relationship was good."

Amused, he cocked a brow. "The sex was good? You talking about sex with Chris Redfield with me on top of you?"

Jill grinned at him a little and slapped his ass again. "No. I didn't say a word about that, you dirty minded lech. You did. But that part was good too. We were happy."

He watched her face, soft and patient. "Yeah? I hear the but in there, Jill. What's the but for?"

Oh lord. He'd walked right into it. He laughed even before she said, "For pooping, stupid."

And he loved her. He just loved her. She grinned, wide and happy, and they chuckled together and held on. How did you not love a woman that made butt jokes like a ten year old boy?

Finally, she answered him, "But we both knew there was something missing there. Some level of connection we'd thought to find in each other. We'd talked about ending it before we found out I was pregnant. It complicated things. But we wanted to keep it. Even if we'd had the baby, I don't think it would have lasted, Leon. Chris is…he's the fight. He's the warrior. He can't stop. He won't stop. I would have never been enough for him. When he found me in Africa, he held me and it didn't cross his mind to kiss me. It didn't even register on his face. And he didn't even…he never asked about the baby."

Another little tear escaped down her cheek. She laughed a little and he swept it away. "Sorry. I'm killing the mood here. I'm sorry. Great pillow talk huh?"

And Leon kinda hated and loved Chris Redfield in that moment for her. The moron. The big muscled idiot. He'd never seen her. Not really. Not how she needed him to. Thank god for that, Leon mused, as it meant she was here with him. But he was sorry for the pain of losing that baby still caused her. He never, ever, wanted her to feel pain like that. Ever. And it was why he was right for her and Chris Redfield? Well, he'd never been right.

Leon shook his head and dropped his mouth to kiss her. It was smooth and stole her breath again. He lifted his head. "We're getting to know each other, Jill. In a short space of time, in a terribly shitty set of circumstances…I could listen to you talk all day, everyday…about nothing. And it would never be enough. Redfield? He's a fool."

Jill shook her head and made a little sound. "He's not. Don't do that. I don't want to paint him as the bad guy here. He isn't. He's good and patient and loyal. He's my best friend. He is. He just…he was never the love of my life. And I could never figure out why…until that day in Tall Oaks."

Oh. Well shit. There it was again. It thrummed in his chest and filled him up. He dropped their foreheads together. "You calling me the love of your life after three days, Jill Valentine?"

Jill laughed a little. "Maybe. How's that feel?"

"Fucking awesome. And better than some of the names I've been called. I've been called lots of things by girls over the years."

"Hmm. Really? Enlighten me."

Amused, he cocked his head and considered, "I threw a spitwad on a girl in the third grade. She called me a nasty little boy. In junior high, I asked out the most popular girl. She called me a dork fish loser in front of the entire gym class."

Delighted, nuts for him, and thrilled to be here with him, Jill shifted beneath him and never wanted him to get off her. Ever. She wanted him to lie on top of her forever. And ever. And pretty much ever. Grinning, Jill said, "What the fuck is a dork fish?"

Chuckling, Leon kissed her mouth once and shrugged, "Presumably, a complete nerd. The type that plays D&D, writes poetry, and plays the piano."

Jill cocked her head to the side, eyes twinkling, "That's pretty specific parameters, Agent Kennedy."

"It was generalizing."

"Oh, oh oh oh…oh it was NOT." Thrilled, Jill stroked her feet down his calves, "You were a dork fish! You mentioned glasses before…you keep referencing Jim Henson movies and Dungeons and Dragons.."

He shifted a little and his FACE. That iconic face of his was set in droll, deadpan lines.

"Oh, Leon Kennedy…you were a NERD!"

And now he laughed. He just laughed. "I like how you shout it like it's a surprise. Or a revelation. It's not an epiphany Jill. I'm still a nerd. I don't hide it."

Jill shook her head, delighted. She just loved it. Every minute of it. "Dork fish…lord. All through high school?"

Leon shrugged a little and nipped at her grinning mouth. "It worked for me. I ran track. I swam. Never got big enough for football so that dreamed died out. Got some acne and turned into a string bean so I had to battle back from puberty pretty hard. Girls started calling me all kinds of things after that."

"Oh, I'm sure. When did Ada Wong start calling you things?"

He scanned her face, looking for something angry. There was nothing. Just curiosity.

"Not for years, actually. And just once. We ran into each other when I was on furlough in Austria. She was there…probably for something nefarious. Who are we kidding? I didn't ask." He kept watching her face while he talked. He didn't want to hurt her. What had Ada said though? She'd said tell her the truth if he wanted to keep her. So he did, "I'd had a thing for her for a long time. We flirted. She was always popping up to lead me around like a puppy and rub on me and run away…"

He started to shift off her and give her relief from his weight and she shook her head, looping him closer. "Stay. Keep talking."

Nuts for her, he laughed a little. "So, there she was. And she didn't run. We had some drinks. She pumped me for information…"

He trailed off and Jill finished it for him, "And you pumped her full of you."

Leon lifted a brow at her. She echoed it. And they both laughed a little. She stroked his back again, smiling at him. "It's ok, Leon. We had lovers. We had lives. We had plenty before this. You don't own me an apology and I'm not going to judge you for it. Why would I? I'm not perfect."

He nodded a little and shifted enough to feel her breasts brush over his chest. They both made little sounds of delight over it. "Mmm. Yeah. So, we had that one night together. It was a couple years back. It was just once. It was a mistake. A big one. I keep trying to backpedal from it. She keeps throwing it out there. I'm not sure why."

Jill took his face, scanning it, looking for the truth there. He was serious. He didn't get it. The man was trained to detect lies and sniff out information. And he couldn't see what was right there. Shaking her head with a laugh, convinced all men were missing the ability to understand women, she said, "She's got feelings for you. Big ones. She played me like a jealous bitch, Leon. You saw that right? She's jealous of me. And she wanted me to know about the two of you. Why? My guess? She's hoping it drives me away."

Oh, he looked so confused. She was insane for him. The dork fish.

He shook his head, laughing a little. "No way. She's not like that. She doesn't care about that shit. I'm not sure she really cares about anything. She's impossible to know."

"How often do you think she let's the enemy bounce around on top of her, Leon? She's fucking brilliant. She's unstoppable. She's probably smarter than both of us combined. She let you fuck her." There. Crude. Maybe crude would get the point across. "But she really fucked herself. Because she cares about you now. Maybe she always has. Maybe she's been chasing you all these years, Leon. Did you ever think about that?"

He blinked, head tilted. She could see him processing that. And he finally shook his head again, "Doesn't wash for me. Maybe she cares about me. Maybe. Even that feels false to me. It's all games with Ada. All results. She has fifteen fingers in forty different pies. I don't think she meant to sleep with me. I believe that part. It just happened for both of us. But now that it did? I think she uses it to manipulate me. I think she wanted me to tell you about her to get rid of you though. That's probably true. She can't manipulate me with you in her way."

Jill watched his face and stroked it, loving him. "Oh, baby, you can't be that blind. Can you? That genius IQ of yours…does it fail you when it's about women? I believe she wants me gone. No doubt about that. But I don't think it has anything to do with some game. It's just you. She's had you all this time in her eyes. Who the hell am I to step in there and take you away? If she'd have pissed on you when she first showed up, it wouldn't have been more obvious."

Amused, Leon tried to picture Ada Wong hiking one delicate leg and pissing on his pants like a dog marking him. He chuckled. "She can pee all over me if she wants, Jill. It won't change anything. Because I'll still be peeing all over you."

They both held gazes. They both twitched mouths. And finally laughed together.

"Yep," Jill mused, "We both just pictured Ada Wong pissing all over you. And you peeing on me."

"Yep. Horrifying. I probably meant it to be more romantic than it sounded. It didn't sound so terrible in my head."

Oh, she loved him. She did. He was wonderful. "I would imagine it didn't. That mouth of yours, does it have a filter?"

"Seemingly. I think I lost it somewhere. Maybe Ada peed on it and it fell off."

Her eyes twinkled. She shifted a little. "Leon?"

He was watching her breasts peak as he brushed his chest over them. Beautiful, he thought, just beautiful. And he'd once stood on the top of the Silverback Mountains and seen the sunrise. He'd once trekked across the edge of the world to see where sea and sky merged and become one. And he'd never, ever, seen anything more beautiful than Jill Valentine.

He lifted his head to look at her. She drew him down to her and pressed her mouth to his. "No more talking. That phone of yours is gonna ring. Any minute. No more talking."

Leon shifted and held her eyes. She arched, he rolled, and he impaled her while they held eyes. And they both groaned with their mouths pressed together. Yeah, he thought, no more talking.

They spilled, they pressed, and they moved together. Hands linked over her head, their bodies merged and mated. It was a symphony skin and sighs. He dropped his mouth and laved her one of her needy nipples. She tightened, bowing, and shaking.

Gruffly, he gasped, "Wait…Jill…look at me…"

Her eyes opened, fluttering, full and poised to fall apart. He caught her and rolled, spilling her into his lap until they were sitting with her around him and in his lap. They slid and stroked and moved together.

She grabbed his face. He said, "Stay with me. Wait for me."

Jesus. Was there a woman alive that said no to that?

Jill rode him, wet and tight, wet and hungry. He wouldn't let her look away. He wouldn't let her do anything but hold his eyes. It was, without a doubt, the most intimate moment of her life. She scooped all his hair off his face and twisted her fingers in it. He did the same.

She gasped, rolling, dying, "Please. Now?"

"Not yet. Jill, stay with me."

Jesus Christ.

He dropped his mouth to kiss her. And she opened her mouth to take his tongue.

He gasped a little, that demon, and ripped her soul from her body with four shaky words, "Jill, I love you."

That was it, he thought, he was done. She felt him tighten, took his gasping moan into her mouth, and she clenched her thighs and milked him with her body. She slapped down hard on him and it was done. She came, crying out into his mouth softly, and he answered it with the spill of himself inside of her. He filled her up with a ragged sound that raped her raw and made her mad for him.

They pressed foreheads and shook, shuddered, and died there in that bed together. She didn't want to let go of him. If she let go, she'd lose him. He made no move to shift away. They octopus held each other on the bed with legs and arms and bodies looped together like twine.

The dork fish and the thief.

The hardest part came when it was done and it was time to dress.

He wasn't a dork fish now, she mused. He wore Prada like some men wore jeans. He slipped on a blue collared shirt over his body and she sat on the bed to watch him. It was like watching a knight donning his armor. The leather vest, the shoulder holster, the pants…black. The shoes? Black…and Zanotti. She as going to be running around China with a man in nine hundred dollar boots.

He went to button up the shirt beneath the vest and she shook her head. She shifted to help him. She snapped latches on the vest and packed magazines in their respective pockets. Jesus Christ, he thought, was there anything better than a beautiful woman in a thong dressing him?

Objectively, yes, because she could be UN-dressing him…which would be so much better.

But this? This was pretty fucking great.

She tucked his Magnum into his shoulder holster. The bag in the closet had been full of all kinds of goodies. She poked a 9mm Glock into the spare piece holster on his thigh. His belt was full of spare ammo. He was a walking advertisement for death when they were done strapping him with shit.

She strapped his big knife to the vest and he caught her face. His tactical glove was smooth, soft, buttery leather on her skin. His other arm looped around her to drag her into him. And he kneaded her sweet little butt as he kissed her.

She made a sound of need, he considered how long it might take to get out of all the damn gear they'd just strapped on him to throw her down again, and his phone rang.

Jill froze. She fisted his vest in her hands. They held eyes.

She whispered, "You could NOT answer it."

And now he smiled, sadly, "Could I really?"

"No. It has to go this way. We both know that. I don't want to lose you."

Jesus. What a thing to say. He directed the call to his ear and blocked visual. "Hunnigan."

"Leon," She sounded out of breath, "What a day for me. Jesus. It's like playing cat and mouse to cover my tracks here. I have a plane for you. Courtesy of the BSAA. You can thank Barry Burton for it. I couldn't locate Chris Redfield like you wanted. But I got Burton easily enough. The moment I mentioned Jill, he pulled strings for you. I didn't go into details on the why. He didn't ask. He sounded too busy to care honestly. He's neck deep himself in something it sounded like. My guess would be dealing with the mess that's happening right now in China."

Leon watched Jill move. She was cover up that tiny white thong she was wearing…and it broke his fucking heart to watch it. Because he didn't want to fight bad guys. Not now. Now? Now he wanted to throw her down and sink his teeth into that perfect ass to watch her come apart for him.

Damnit.

"Simmons is already there?"

"Oh, he's there. And there's a mess happening. The BSAA has boots on the ground. It's a disaster."

Jill slipped on a slick green top over a sports bra. It made her waist look tiny and her breasts look edible. He finally had to leave the room before he forgot what the fuck they were doing here and just threw her face down on the bed to mount her.

He walked toward the room where Ben slept while Hunnigan briefed him on the situation. She laid out the details of the plane and the sent maps and coordinates to his phone. When they clicked off, he stepped into the bedroom to find Ben sitting on the bed with his jacket.

He was wiping it with a washcloth. His face was teary. Concerned, Leon moved toward him to crouch beside him on the floor. "What's wrong buddy? What's happening?"

"I can't get it clean." He was whispering. He looked so heartbroken. He hiccupped out a sob. "It's so dirty. I can't get it clean!"

Lean gathered his hands up and turned him into his body. The little boy just…fell apart. He just started sobbing against his chest. "I can't get it clean…I can't get the blood off. It's so dirty."

There was movement in the doorway and Jill was there. She wore that green tank top over gray camouflage cargo fatigues tucked into thick black combat boots. A shoulder holster in black nylon was tucked into a belt lined with ammo pouches. She had a piece strapped to her thigh, a knife strapped to her ankle, and another piece tucked into that shoulder holster. Her hair was scooped up in a bun behind her head with just some wispy bangs floating around the face beneath the dark gray ball cap she wore.

She glanced at his distressed face and moved over to encircle Ben from behind. He just kept crying about the jacket. It was so much more than the jacket. Of course, it was. Jill cupped Leon's face with one gloved hand and shook her head at the panic on him.

Jill soothed, "Benny…Ben…look here. Look at me."

He did, hiccupping. Jill stroked his wet cheek. "We'll get it clean, ok? It'll be ok. And you know what? When we get where we're going…when it's done and we're back home…Leon will get you one that fits you perfectly. So, you'll have two."

Leon watched her face as she spoke to him. She was so fucking perfect. Even her bad girl look was perfect. Not a drop of makeup and that face was gorgeous. The love on it for that little boy between them was the most beautiful part about it.

Ben sniffled, "Two? Two jackets?"

Leon kissed the top of his head. "Two jackets. You know something? Jill picked that jacket out for me."

"Really?" He glanced at Jill who nodded.

"She did. She's got good taste in clothes huh?"

Ben nodded, petting the dirty coat on the bed beside him. "Yeah. It's like a cape."

And so that was the answer. It was a hero's cape to the little boy. If the cape wouldn't come clean, how did the hero fly again? Jill and Leon held gazes over his sweet head. Such a brave boy…he wanted to be a hero.

Leon said, "Ben…how about when this is done we get you two jackets…and two people to live with?"

Ben lifted his eyes to him. Jill felt herself shake a little. They caught gloved palms and held. "Two?"

Leon nodded a little and he was nervous. She watched it all over him. The great Leon Kennedy, nervous around a little boy. "Yeah. Jill…and me. Maybe you could live with both of us for awhile. If you wanted."

Ben considered this sagely. He poked at one of the ammo pouches on Leon's vest and twisted his lips around. "Forever?"

Jesus. Leon took a slow breath to make sure his voice didn't crack when he spoke. "Yeah. I think forever is ok. What do you think?"

Ben studied his face, watching him like God at the Gates of St. Peter, awaiting his final judgment. He finally said, wisely, "Can we get a dog?"

And Leon felt his face crack into a huge smile. Jill watched his eyes mist up and wanted to die loving him. It was that simple. She wanted to grab both of them and run away while it was good. While it was safe. While it was loving.

Leon answered, tongue in cheek, "I think we can get a dog. A big one?"

Ben nodded, wiping his cheeks. "Yeah. A big dog. Shaggy. Maybe like a sheeping dog."

Leon grabbed Jill's face above the little boy that clung to him. He pulled her over to press their foreheads together. And he whispered, "Yeah. Maybe like a sheeping dog. I think that would be ok."

Ben nodded a little, holding on. "Then I think that forever is good."

"Yeah," Leon answered gruffly. His voice broke and killed her where she sat. Jill cupped his face over Ben's head, she kissed his nose and his mouth. And she cried a little since she knew he wouldn't. "I think so too."

Ben glanced up at them above him. He touched Jill's face and she turned her eyes down to him. "It's ok. Don't cry, Jill. You can have a dog too."

Jill laughed a little, wetly. She kissed his sweet little mouth and hugged him. Her head slid over to rest on Leon's shoulder. "Thank you, Ben. But I think I'd just like to have a son for a while. I can't have any children of my own. Maybe you'll be my son."

Ben squeezed her, sniffling. "I think that would be ok too."

Jill tilted her head and Leon lowered his mouth to kiss her. A wonderful, shining, beautiful moment. Her heart seized, it squeezed, and it froze as his communicator beeped again.

He rose from the bed to pace away. Gruffly, he answered it, "Hunnigan."

"Leon, the plane is ready. The car is there to get you. And, officially, you're dead. We're off the grid now, Leon. The official word is you died, Helena died, and Jill Valentine died for the second time." She laughed a little as she said it. "It's a tragic road for her."

Leon chuckled a little. "You're right about that. We're headed out now. Thank you, Ingrid. I mean it."

"Leon, your thanks are wasted. Adam was…he would have wanted it this way. Avenge him. Get the proof. Let's put that son of a bitch in a cage and watch him rot until they open his veins for the lethal injection."

Ingrid Hunnigan: Vengeful goddess.

Leon made a sound of ascent. "It's my greatest priority. Do we have a safe house for Ben?"

On the bed, Ben jerked in Jill's arms. She soothed him, stroking his hair.

"Absolutely, Barry Burton offered to pick him up himself when you put boots on the ground in Jiating. It's outside of Tatchi. And away from Lanshiang where the outbreak is happening. I'm sending you the coordinates on the three biggest cities on the coast there. All are about six to eight hours outside of Beijing. But I think they're likely targets for Simmons to potentially set up a safe house. A good raid might turn him up and end it quickly."

Leon nodded a little, "Ok. Ingrid, shoot me Burton's contact information and get me anything on the terrain you've got on those cities. I'll review anything we have on the plane ride and see if we can narrow down where he might hole up."

"Good. I'm on it. Be careful."

She clicked off and Leon turned back to them. Ben, in a red t-shirt and jeans, was shaking his head. "I won't go."

"Ben…it's the best plan. I can't drag you into a hot zone filled with hostiles. I _can't."_

Ben glanced at Jill, looking for an ally. She brushed his curly hair off his forehead, "It's not safe, Benny. It's not. We can't protect you like that. But Barry Burton? He had two little daughters. He's a good man. He'll keep you safe while we finish this and put the bad man away in jail."

Ben slid off the bed. He clutched the jacket against his chest. He shook his head. "I won't go. You promised you wouldn't leave me. I won't go."

And he ran from the room.


	15. Chapter 15

**-Planes, Trains, and AutoPilot-**

* * *

Leon started to move after him and Jill caught his arm. "Wait. Give him a minute. He's little, he's afraid, and he's grieving. Just…give him a minute."

Leon nodded and they moved together out of the bedroom. Helena waited for them carrying the assault bag. They didn't say a word as they moved down the stairs and toward the open doors.

An agent waited in a dark suit and glasses. She nodded to Leon and took the bag from Helena. She loaded it into a dark town car. Helena climbed into the front seat beside her.

Jill waited for Ben to come outside. He didn't look at her as he climbed in the back seat. Glancing at each other over the car, Jill and Leon got in on either side of him. He didn't speak to them the whole ride to the airport.

He didn't speak to them as they hustled onto the large plane: A government issue flight with staff in transition to various posts within the state department there. There were, roughly, twenty people on the plane including the pilots.

Leon worked on a table to one side of the back side of the plane. He had maps and pens and data spread out all over the table. He was drawing lines and flipping maps to check his charting. He kept rubbing the back of his neck with his face drawn into lines of concentration. She watched the intelligence all over him as he worked. He was there putting it all together. He was there mapping out a way to bring down the bad guy and save the day.

Jill sat beside Ben in two seats. He was picking at the teddy bear in his lap. She said, softly, "It's ok to be mad at us. We're not leaving you, Benny. We're protecting you. We'll come back for you when it's done."

And now he lifted his head at her. And he was so mad. She could see it all over his little face.

He shouted, which made her jump, and had eyes swinging toward their seats. Leon looked over from his work at them. "You won't come back! You won't! You'll leave me there and you'll die! You'll go away and die and you won't come back!"

Jill tried to soothe him and he shot to his feet. "Benny…"

"No! I p'omised! I p'omised to protect you! I can't do dat if you send me away!" He ran up the aisle toward the cockpit. Jill rose to go after him and Leon shook his head. He patted her shoulder to guide her back down.

"Stay. Let me do it." He moved after the little boy. Helena shifted over to sit by Jill.

She said, softly, "Men. Nothing but drama."

And Jill laughed a little.

Leon found Ben outside the cockpit, sitting in the corner with his teddy bear in his arms. He crouched down to eye level with him. "Hey, pal. You want to tell me what's happening here?"

Ben shrugged one shoulder. "Nobody wants me around."

Leon nodded a little, "Seems that way, huh? But you know what? We both want you around, all the time. I won't risk you, Ben. I told you that once. Not for me. Not for Jill. Not for anyone. Let me protect you now. So you can grow up and be a hero again. You saved me. You keep saving me. Let me protect you now."

Ben held his eyes. "If you send me away, I won't be there to save you. And you'll die."

Jesus.

Leon covered his hand on the teddy bear. The teddy bear had been Leon's when he'd been young. Adam had given it to him. It was on its first adventure overseas. Most of its life it had lived in that cabin in Whispering Pines. What was significant about the bear wasn't that it had been given to him by Adam. It wasn't that it was looking for a little boy to love it again. It wasn't even that it had been his only friend in the house where no one had loved him growing up. It was that the bear's name…was Benjamin.

And maybe that was another thing he'd been searching for his entire life.

Ben.

Looking for the right words, Leon finally said, "Maybe you're right. Maybe I can't do this without you. But I'm pretty scared, pal. I'm pretty terrified right now."

Ben blinked a little at him. "To die?"

"No…not to die. But to lose you? Yeah. That guy in your arms there? That's Benjamin the Bear."

Ben blinked and smiled a little. "Like me?"

"Oh yeah. He's been looking for you. And so have I. Who will take care of Ben the Bear if you get hurt? Who will take care of me?"

Ben shifted a little. He moved forward until he was snuggled in Leon's arms. Leon settled back on the ground and shifted him to sit on his lap.

"What if you don't come back?" Such a soft whisper.

Leon stroked his hair while they both held the bear. "I'll come back for you."

Ben sniffled a little. "How do you know?"

"Because I don't break my promises. Ever."

Ben lifted his head and met Leon's eyes. He was comforted by the stoic resolution he must have seen there. Something on that face soothed him. He nodded a little and sighed. "Ever?"

"Ever." Leon affirmed.

"…ok. I'll go."

"Good man. I can't fight if I'm worried about you. Maybe we apologize to Jill for yelling at her too. What do ya think?" Leon shifted a knee up and draped his wrist over it. Ben settled onto the floor beside him and curled against his side.

"…yeah. I will. I is sorry I yelled."

"A wise choice, my friend. Mad girls is bad girls. Seriously. She won't bake pies if she's mad."

Ben nodded sagely. "Or maybe her make poop pies instead. I don't want to eat a poop pie."

Amused, Leon nodded while his eyes twinkled. "Me either, pal. I've eaten a shit sandwich before, I promise you…it's not good."

Ben watched him wisely and seemed to accept this as gospel. "Maybe it's ok for you to say dirty words. You say them a lot."

Chastised, Leon blinked down at him. "You could be right about that. So, that's something I can work on too, huh?"

"Yeah. Dirty mouths get soap in them. Dat p'obably tastes as bad as a poop pie."

That was it. He was keeping the kid forever. He was done.

Leon chuckled and hugged him close. He opened his mouth to say something either clever or awful…and the plane pitched. It pitched hard and they slid along the floor. He caught Ben to hold him and waited. But it wasn't turbulence. Nope.

It was trouble.

Because the alarms started blaring and the lights started flickering. And the world went dark, dark, and was lit only by a flicker of lightning outside the windows.

And somewhere in the dark...someone had started screaming.

The plane pitched again. Ben grabbed at him. It was pitch dark in the hallway. The screaming had stopped. He could hear people milling around. And then the world was bright again by emergency lighting.

"Leon!"

"It's ok. It's alright. Look at me. Look here." Ben did, terrified. "I look afraid to you?"

Ben studied his face and finally shook his head no.

"Exactly. Come with me ok? Let's go check on the pilots. Planes break down like cars sometimes."

He figured by now they were over Lanshiang airspace. How far outside of their landing zone? There was a storm happening beyond the windows. Lightning flashed and sizzled in the inky clouds. It was impossible to know the answer to that question.

Keeping his calm, he eased down the hallway to the cockpit. The door was ajar. The gnaw of something painful got the back of his neck. His hand slid down and pulled the Glock from his thigh. Ben glanced up at him, afraid again.

"Hey…just a precaution. Just to be safe. Ok?"

Ben nodded and pressed harder against his side. Leon eased the door opened and cleared the room beyond it. A short flight of stairs led up to the cockpit. It looked clear but he kept the gun aimed as he elbow rolled the door open and eased into the room.

Ben stayed with him, breathing fast and low.

Leon could hear the panel of indicators squealing and throwing warnings. A diagram of the plane was indicating the pressure bulkhead in the rear of the plane was causing an anomaly in the flight pattern. Leon clicked a few keys on the panel trying to figure out exactly what was infiltrating but it was impossible for the computer to have that answer.

He started to turn back and Ben whispered, "Leon..."

He looked over his shoulder and the pilot..well…the pilot was dead. But he wasn't just dead…he was a pod. He was a pod covered in goop. It split, it cracked and stank. Leon grabbed Ben and almost threw him toward the door they'd come through.

"Run! Get to Jill! RUN BEN!"

And the pod burst open with a geyser of ectopic fluid and slime. The disgusting thing that burst free from it was the same thing they'd faced in the cathedral. It was a monster covered in twenty buttholes. It was a tit monster. Its head split open like nasty petals so it could squeal, screech, and warble its high pitched wail at them.

Leon holstered the pistol, ripped the Magnum from his shoulder holster and shot it right in its exposed blubbery organ filled face. It squealed, it raced at him doing that horrible wiggle walk. Leon shot it again and it was there. There was nowhere to run now.

He shot again but it knocked his arms to the side and the Magnum went spinning over the floor. The hit threw him sideways into the console. It threw alarm bells and sent up screams of protest.

The tit monster grabbed his face with one nasty hand and squeezed. It started to lift him off the floor. It opened that gaping petal head and screeched. Leon kicked and there was a BOOM from behind him.

It dropped him. It staggered back, squealing and toppling to the side. And Ben was on his ass on the floor, put there by the Magnum in his hands. The end of the barrel smoked and his eyes were so wide it was like looking at a chibi doll.

Leon pulled his pistol and the tit monster started at him again.

From the doorway of the cockpit, Jill shouted, "GET DOWN!"

He did. He dropped belly first to the floor and she fired the shotgun in her hands at it. The heavy round had it staggering backward. It screamed at them and leaped. It tore through the ceiling of the plane and bounded away.

Jill offered Ben her hand and yanked him to his feet.

Leon rolled to his own. "Jesus Christ…you think we can get it back here?"

Jill lifted her brows at him.

"Someone has to fly this fucking plane."

Jill shook her head, rolling her eyes. "You can fly it right?"

Leon seemed to consider it. "Sure? Why not. What have we got to lose right?"

Jill blinked at him. "You CAN'T fly it?"

"No? I did some simulations once. I can fly a helicopter."

They held gazes for a moment. And finally, Jill said, "Apparently there are things we need Chris for after all."

And she LOVED that look on his face. It was offense. He was offended.

Chuckling, Jill said, "Get Hunnigan on the horn and figure it out. Ben? Stay here with Leon and help him fly this plane. I'm going to get Helena and track down the big stinky before it farts on everyone. We'll check the pressure bulkhead in the rear to see what's infiltrating."

Leon nodded and grabbed the pilots seat. Ben took the other seat and strapped himself in.

Jill hurried down the steps and emerged into the main cabin of the plane. Helena met her as they moved toward the rear of the plane. Helena had another shotgun in her hands. They shifted together while people scrambled and hid.

The door to the next cabin was broken and hanging on its hinges. And the people in the cabin…were no longer, people. The monster had farted its nasty mist all over this cabin, clearly. There were undead everywhere. They lifted their guns and started firing.

Leon, guided by Hunnigan, was shutting down the autopilot. He gripped the release and pushed the lever to bring the plane level. He hit buttons, pulled throttles, and fought against a failing engine.

Jill and Helena were finally in the rear bulkhead. They were sealing the leak by releasing the pressure valve. And then the big tit monster burst in to join the party.

The plane bucked and tossed, spilling them around like toppled toys. The tit monster hit the wall and slid to the floor. Jill fired her shotgun right into its squealing face. The plane righted and Helena shot the tit monster in the back. They put eight rounds in it while it tried to fart on them and slap them stupid.

The steel floor and walls hurt when the plane tossed them around. Whatever Leon was doing, he SUCKED at flying the plane. Jill yelled as they scrambled again, "Jesus Christ! I should have let BEN fly the damn plane!"

And Helena laughed.

Finally, Helena smashed the emergency release for the cargo bay. She grabbed Jill and threw her at the wall. Jill held on to the valve wheel, looping her arms around it and Helena pulled the lever. The tit monster wobble walked at them to probably fart all over them and the cargo bay opened.

The pressure was AWESOME. It was enormous. It created a vacuum that, literally, sucked the screaming, squealing, warbling mess straight out into space. It tried to take them both with it. Jill held on, horizontal to the ground as the wind ripped her body parallel. Helena shoved the lever, clinging and flapping in the wind like a flag. She yelled out with a final push of power and the cargo bay slid closed, sealing them in.

They both dropped to their faces on the steel floor with grunts.

The plane pitched again and they rose, staggering, and raced back toward the cockpit. Jill yelled, "What was I thinking? Leon Kennedy is the WORST driver in the world! Jesus Christ…it's a running joke! EVERYONE knows that."

In the cockpit, Leon brought the plane level before it nose-dived into the closest building. But the alarms wailed, they blared….and they indicated the left engines were blown. "Oh god… Hunnigan? What do I do?"

"Redirect power to the right engines. Try to stay above the damn city, Leon. Try to get the plane UP. Hurry."

He pulled the lever to lift the nose and the plane squealed at him. It told him the right engines were losing power. It told him the fuel line was ruptured. It told him…they were fucked. He jerked the throttle, trying to get the plane above the buildings. But they were right over the city now. RIGHT OVER IT.

Leon strapped on the safety harness. He glanced at Ben. His voice was so calm. So calm. He was TERRIFIED. "Hold on, pal. Close your eyes and hold on ok?"

"Leon!"

Jill was in the cockpit. He pulled back on the throttle once more and the engine whined and died. They were done. It was done. He shouted, "STRAP IN! HOLD THE FUCK ON!"

The plane nose dived down, running now on momentum and velocity. It belly flopped and hit the road. There was an explosion and a scream of metal, the wings were ripped away and sheared off by the buildings around it that rose up to stall their crash. The world erupted into fire and smoke and death. The plane tossed and spun and surged. It cocked sideways and went through an entire building, sending plumes of smoke and stench and fire into the stormy sky.

Cars were ripped apart beneath its rampaging carcass as it kept on going, throwing the world into chaos and collapsing it around its fiery girth. The plane screamed the passengers screamed, the world screamed as it was caught up in the blaze of its descent and the madness was born from the ashes of the startling, terrible, pulsing crash.

With no time to hold on, Jill and Helena were tossed around the cockpit. Helena managed to grab the safety harness against the closest wall and strap herself in. She grabbed for Jill and missed by inches. Jill was thrown into the ceiling and came down on her face, she hit the floor with a gasp of instant pain and was caught in the spin as the plane cocked sideways and tried to flip over. She was jerked back and thrown across the room as if hands had swatted her. She hit the dashboard sideways and smashed into the windshield.

Leon unhooked his safety belt and grabbed for her. He twisted his hands into her shoulder holster and jerked him forward into him. She fell across his lap, straddled him, and he hooked the safety belt over the both of them. She curled around him in the pilot's seat with her face in his neck. His arms looped and held her. The plane pitched, it skidded sideways in a burst of collapsing buildings, a ROAR of bursting stone and shattering glass, and a RUSH of fire that spread and caught and spilled out to lick the sky with angry tongues.

After a long moment, the crackle and pop of fire were all that filled the air around them. Jill lifted her head to look down at him. Blood had smeared along her brow and cheek. He grabbed her chin to check her. She had a lump at her temple that was oozing.

Jill shook her head at the concern on his face. "I'm fine. That wasn't even your fault. That was our friend with the fifty buttholes."

He gripped her and darted his eyes over her face. "Did it fart on you?"

And now she laughed a little. "Why do we have to keep asking each other questions like this?"

He laughed and kissed her. "The world seeks to surround us in flatulence, baby. Clearly."

"No shit." And she liked the baby. The baby…was good. She turned her head and Ben was watching them, wide-eyed and frightened. Jill reached toward him and squeezed his hand. Leon unhooked the safety belt from them and called, "Helena!?"

From the back of the cockpit, she answered, "I'm ok! I'm ok."

They rose, Jill wincing, and Leon braced a hand on her. She limped a little but laughed and patted his forearm. "You are…the worst driver….ever."

He smirked a little. "Not my fault."

"….seriously?"

"I'm fucking serious. The engines shit the bed, Jill. I didn't wreck the damn plane. I can't control something with no power coming to it."

Her look was droll.

He was deadpan.

Finally, Ben said, "You wrecked the bus too."

Leon threw up his hands now, unable to stop the laughing. "I wasn't driving the bus! The bus was not my fault!"

Jill was helping Helena free from her safety harness. They were both deadpan. Ben was grinning. "You weren't?"

Leon's mouth twitched. And that little boy giggled a little.

"…you little stinker."

The clever little thing that he was. He was the cutest thing ever born. Leon snatched him up while he giggled. And tickled him while he held him.

Jill grabbed Helena's hand and squeezed. Helena smirked a little and patted her shoulder. "Yep. You're done. Who can resist that?"

Jill laughed a little, wetly. "I don't know probably someone. But she's a fucking idiot."

They moved through the poor dead plane to the emergency exit door. It was already open. Any survivors were long gone into the burning darkness.

They were in some kind of shipping yard. Steel shipping containers were everywhere, some as big and wide as a school bus. Boxes and barrels were scattered around in lilting stacks and piles. Some were burning, some were tumbling, some were smoking and waiting to catch fire. Oil drums were lined up in various locations on the filthy concrete. Where oil leaked, the fire ignited until it ran around them like snakes and rings of flame. Leon kept hearing Johnny Cash in his head as he walked.

They could smell the sea over the acrid stench of fire and melting metal. Empty cages lined the docks around them. Radio towers were jutting up into the inky sky. Fire licked and plumed from the devastation wrought by the plane.

The world was a flickering, steaming, red washed rain of fire. Ash and debris rained down. The spinning blades of the dead engine on the plane punctuated the crackling, snapping, seething sounds of the eruption and post explosive concussion. Everything was bathed in orange and glowing like a torch. The heat sank into the bones and spilled there, singeing the nose with the stench of burning, even as it caused sweat to break out on the skin.

They picked their way over the filthy ground, Jill limping a little. Ben was holding Helena's hand as they moved. Leon covered them with his Magnum loose but ready in his hands.

He touched his ear, "Hunnigan…we made it. Sorta. The plane is toast but we're alright. Can you get a location on us and help me out here?"

"Sure. Give me just a second to pinpoint you."

"Thanks."

Jill staggered and Leon caught her against him, one armed. "Hey…hey hey. You ok?"

She smiled a little and it was hard to tell but he thought she looked pale in the flickering firelight. "Hard blow to the head. I'm ok. Just a little dizzy. Let's get out of this fire and give me a minute to sit down."

"Yeah." He looped her arm over his shoulders to help her move. "Ingrid?"

"I'm here," Said Hunnigan into his ear, "You're in Lanshiang, Leon. You never made it beyond the city. The bad news is that the city is infested with the virus you're fighting. But if you're careful, you can take back alleys to get to Simmons. The tracker I have on him…puts him close to you."

Leon paused, breathing, "He's here in the city?"

"I can't pinpoint the exact location. But I've got him within a fifteen-mile radius of you…so yeah."

"So, I guess even though I'm the one that crashed the plane…Simmons is the one who's really going down."

Jill stopped walking. She blinked at him. He held her look. He was smirking...and than he winked. The adorable thing that he was. He winked. She shook her head and laughed.

Hunnigan didn't even chuckle. She just sighed. "You're awful. Do you plan this stuff?"

"…can't say that I do. It's just natural ability. Like throwing a curve ball…or having great hair."

Hunnigan finally laughed and said, "Follow the signs for the Feng Open Air Market. Stay low. Stay quiet. I'll monitor you from here."

"The plane crash wasn't really my fault, Hunnigan."

She was quiet. Leon pursed his lips. "It wasn't."

Again, she said nothing.

Annoyed, Leon huffed out a breath. Jill giggled. Hunnigan said, "Stay safe. Be good. Don't blow up any more shit…and let Helena or Jill drive from now on."

Leon clicked off, muttering under his breath. Jill kissed his cheek and had him snorting.

They moved slowly toward the far side of the shipyard and a small voice called out. "Leon!?"

He turned and both he and Jill had their guns raised. Helena stepped in front of Ben. But there was no cause to worry…exactly. The little voice belonged to Sherry Birkin. Once a little girl in Raccoon City, she was a woman now. She was small and thin and filthy in a raggedy shirt and scarf. Her short blonde hair framed a pixie face. She had a man with her that was skinny and tall in filthy black garb. It was hard to tell in the flickering orange glow but his face looked familiar.

Jill tightened her fingers on Leon's shoulder and his gaze slid to her. "What?"

She shook her head.

Leon eased Jill to sit on a shipping container and turned back to Sherry as she raced toward him. "Leon! What are you doing here?"

She moved to hug him and the man with her grabbed her arm, stalling her. Leon and the guy held gazes. Something on the back of his neck itched. What was it about that face?

Leon said, "Sherry, I'd ask you the same."

"I'm on protective detail."

He was nodding. "Yeah. I heard you were an agent now."

"I am. I'm escorting Jake to safety."

"Jake" was eyeing Leon like he might try to kill the girl beside him at any moment. Leon shifted, disliking the alpha dog look in those narrow blue eyes. Sherry was smiling.

"It's good to see you…in a shitty situation. Why are you here?"

"I'm tracking the guy who started all this."

Jake gestured with his head. "He wreck that plane?"

Ben said, quietly, "No. That was Leon."

Annoyed, especially because "Jake" was now smirking arrogantly about it, Leon huffed out another breath. "Long story. But the guy I'm looking for is Chief Security Advisor Derek Simmons."

Sherry jerked. She blinked. She glanced at Jake and back at Leon. "Simmons!? That's not possible. Leon…that's my BOSS. That's who I report to."

Surprised, Leon took a step forward. "You answer to Simmons?"

"Yes. He's my superior."

Leon shook his head, "I don't really think he's anyone's superior. A turd is superior to Derek Simmons. But, for argument's sake, let's pretend that's true. I need to find him."

Sherry hesitated.

"Where is he, Sherry?" Leon urged her now, cajoling, "I need to find him. If you'll just te—"

Apparently, he'd made an egregious mistake taking another step toward her because Jake threw an arm up and hit him in the chest too, legitimately, shove him back from her. Her turned Sherry away from Leon at the same time.

Sherry cried, "Hey!"

Jake growled, "Back OFF!"

And Leon felt the first push of anger. Protective was fine. Protective was good when it came to Sherry. But he didn't have time for this kind of dominance shit.

Jill, meanwhile, wasn't having any of it. She had her gun on Jake.

"Ease down, cowboy. And take a fucking chill pill. That's my property you're manhandling there. I like him pretty. Don't be threatening him or laying your hands on him or I'll feed you that ugly shirt you're wearing."

Amused, Leon lifted a brow at her. She shrugged one shoulder. "I have my moments."

He chuckled a little, "My Hero."

Sherry was pushing on Jake. He dragged her back by her arm. Leon took another step toward them. Jill, with the gun on Jake still, added, "You're gonna wanna take your hands off her too there, tough guy. No reason to rough up that little girl."

Sherry lifted her hand to them. "Please. I'm sorry. I'll handle this."

She turned to Jake. He hissed at her, "Your orders said to avoid contact with ANYONE."

Sherry jerked her arm away from him. "Leon's not just anyone. He saved my LIFE back in Raccoon City. My life, Jake. He's my friend. Back DOWN."

Jake held her gaze. He turned his eyes to Leon and met that look. "Fair enough."

Ben made a small sound. And Helena yelled, "LEON!"

The world went slow. It seemed to sink into a crystallized space in time. It would seem, later, he had all the time in the world to look up and see the engine of the plane flying toward them. Toward Sherry. Flipping and zipping and shooting across the sky like a horrid falling star. Leon reached for her…and Jake leaped on her to shove her down. The engine passed an inch from her head and kept on coming.


	16. Chapter 16

**-Bitch, let go!-**

* * *

Helena and Ben went belly down with her on top of him. And Jill? She tackled Leon like a football lineman. She hit him broadside, stole his breath, and down they went. The engine passed less than an inch from her back as they hit the ground. It shifted the world in a steaming burst of scalding wind and fear.

And it struck the shipping containers behind them with a cacophonous ROAR of sound. Hands covered ears, the sky shivered, and the rain started to pour down on them. Thunder rumbled, and lightning burst somewhere in the distant inky sky.

Leon's back hit the concrete and they slid over it with Jill atop him. His hands came up, cradled her head, they spun out and smashed into a row of barrels. She pulled him up quickly before the pain set in. Adrenaline kicked in and washed away the ache and throb of it.

Ben whispered, "Monster."

Atop the radio tower, the monster waited. It was…ugly. It was Munch's The Scream. Its face looked like melted wax with a hole for a mouth. It was massive and muscled and graying with necrotic flesh. It wore filthy pants and a shoulder holster on its enormous bulk. It was an uglier version of Bane from Batman or something. And one of its freakishly muscled arms? Well, it was a giant metal claw. It opened and closed with a rusty scream of sound. And the monster made a noise that sounded like a grunting pig snarfle.

Helena grabbed Ben and ran for it. She didn't even wait. She just ran for the farthest point away from the thing that was coming for them.

Leon stepped up beside Jake, who was now brandishing a .44 long barrel Magnum. He lifted a brow at him. "Friends of yours?"

Without missing a beat, Jake quipped, "More like an ex-girlfriend. Bitch doesn't know when to let go."

So maybe he liked Jake a little.

Maybe.

Leon snorted out a laugh, "Yeah? Welcome to the club, kid."

Jill stepped up on his other side. She one hand jacked a round into her shotgun and pushed it to her shoulder. And she said, softly, "Nemesis."

There was no more time to say anymore. The monster hit the ground in front of them and shook the shifting world with it. They split apart as it focused on Jake and ran for him. Sherry rolled to miss its swiping arm and shouted, "STAY CLEAR OF THAT ARM! If it catches you, it'll CRUSH you!"

That sounded like pretty good advice. Maybe a bit unnecessary given the situation. But still good.

Leon shot it in the back of the head as it grabbed Jake in its claw and started lifting him. Jill put two shotgun shells into its guts while Jake dangled. Sherry? She crawled right up onto its back and hooked her arm around its neck.

It tossed around like it would dislodge her and dropped Jake in the process. Sherry wedged her pistol up under its massive jaws and pulled the trigger on it. It reached its good arm up to grab her and Jill stepped into its attack range and blasted its arm above the claw with the shotgun.

It spun out, throwing Sherry like a dart. She went up and came down. Leon ran to intercept her, dropped to one knee, caught her, and spilled her back to her feet. Impressed, she blinked at him.

Jake? He took the hit from the arm the thing threw at Jill. He stepped right in the way and caught it across the chest. It threw him up and out and into one of the steel shipping containers while Jill rolled to safety.

Yeah, Leon mused, maybe he liked Jake.

Leon raced toward it now as it pursued Jill across the shipping yard. It drove her back with its speed and its sheer size. She ran dry with the shotgun and rolled away, missing losing her head to its reaching claw.

Leon went right, drove his boots into a shipping container there, pushed off like a slingshot, and went up. He landed on its back, pulled a Sherry and crawled up it, and put the Magnum to the side of its ugly head. It reached for him even as he pulled the trigger.

The heavy round blew out the side of its stupid head and didn't even faze it.

It grabbed his vest and jerked him free of it. It shook him and dropped him. And then? Well, it caught him in that stupid claw. The crushing was immediate. It was…probably the most painful thing he'd ever felt. Leon was pretty sure he was shouting. He was pretty sure he was dying. He knew for a FACT he was going to probably explode into bits and blood soon enough.

And Jake was there. He swung on the arm that bound Leon like an acrobat, kicked the ugly thing twice in the face, and flipped away. It staggered, and Sherry shot in the face again. Its arm came down, the pressure eased off his dying body, and Jill shot it in the arm with the shotgun…twice.

It let him go.

Jake grabbed him and pulled him free…and the thing smashed its clawed arm into the ground where he'd been.

Jake, the skinny kid, was strong as fuck. He threw Leon out and away like a bullet. Leon rolled, skidded over the ground, and flipped to his feet. They looked at each other with the same expression: grudging respect.

Leon gestured with his head and Jake looked behind him. There were gathered bundles of oil drums on top of the shipping containers. The fire touched the oil and set fire to the world. If they could get the oil and the fire together…ka-blooey…monster soup.

Jake nodded and raced toward the monster. Leon holstered the Magnum and ran for the shipping container. Jill was right there. She was just…right there. And she didn't even hesitate. She dropped to one knee, cradled her hands, and Leon ran right at her. He threw his boot into her hands and she tossed her arms up to send him where he needed to be.

He hit the top of the metal, Jill ran back to the fight with the monster, and Leon tackled the first oil drum. He shoved it, grunting, sweating and it went over onto the ground in a burst of shimmery slick wetness. The natural slope of the ground led it toward the fire. Leon shoved the next one with a shout of adrenaline and determination.

His biceps bunched, his legs pushed, and his body said: seriously? But it gave him everything it had. The second barrel bust like an exploded water balloon. The top blew off and shot oil everywhere.

Sherry screamed, "Leon!"

And the big nasty landed on the shipping container beside him. Leon staggered; he fell to one knee and saved him decapitation. The big nasty punched him with its none clawed arm. It hit him full in the chest and knocked him into the rest of the barrels. They went overboard and hit the ground in a kaleidoscope of shimmering oil and noise.

Leon slid after them and Jill caught him, tumbling to her butt on the slick ground. She jerked him with her as the big nasty rocketed off the container after them. Limping, Leon tried to curl around the pain in his chest. Jill grabbed his vest and threw him in front of her and then? She turned back to face it.

He skidded, he almost fell, as he reversed to join her.

Sherry shouted again and shot the big nasty twice in the face. Jake was M.I.A. And the big nasty? It had had enough playing around. It raced at them.

Jill tossed Leon her shotgun, ripped her knife from her ankle and did the same. She raced at it. Like Athena, she sounded her battle cry as she went to war. She dropped as it swung at her, slid beautifully between its massive legs, and brought that knife up to sliced it to ribbons as she went.

Leon fired on it with the shotgun until it ran dry, tossed it down, and dropped his knife into his hand. He took three running steps and bounded up a row of barrels. Without thinking, without stopping, he raced across the shipping container beside it and pushed off. Airborne, he landed on its back. Sherry shot it twice more in the face and Jill drove her blade into its leg while it roared.

And Jake threw a flaming piece of something at the oil at its feet. Apparently, he'd been off making a torch.

Leon held on while it tossed him like a bull and sank his knife into its gaping mouth. It grabbed him and jerked him clear. Leon ripped the blade free as he went. It threw him.

It just..launched him.

He flew so far, so fast, Leon knew if he came down now he was dead. He would break all the bones in his body. He was done for. He went over a makeshift wall constructed out of fencing and glue…

And down he came.

Dust and filth poofed up around him as he hit a pile of old tarps and paint blankets. Ben grabbed him to pull him clear of it and it was the third time the boy had saved his life. Clever fucking kid.

Helena shouted, "Leon! Get behind the wheel!"

And he looked up to see her worked on the backside of a gutted tourist bus. It was a carcass. It was in rough shape. But it would do the job.

Leon leaped behind the wheel. Apparently, she wanted the worst driver in the world to take down the big nasty. Ben stayed behind with her as Leon gunned the rickety engine, listened to it cough and wheeze…and catch. He threw the bus into drive and dropped the hammer on it. It chugged, clunked, and jumped forward rocketing toward the makeshift wall. It exploded through with a symphony of noise. He aimed it at the big nasty.

It had Jill.

It had Jill in its claw.

Leon shouted, "You son of a BITCH! Get your hands off what's MINE!"

And it saw him coming.

It…THREW JILL AT HIM.

Leon pushed through the missing windshield of the bus as she flew. It was all slow motion again. It was minutes and hours and days. Leon slid over the hood of the bus and jumped.

The bus hit the big nasty. It barreled him down and pinned him to the steel container beyond. It went sideways and took down a row of barrels and boxes. And it caught fire.

It all happened in less than two seconds. And Leon caught Jill in mid jump…like fucking Superman or something…and down they came. He twisted his body to take the hit as they landed… and they didn't land in a mess on the ground.

Because the skinny kid Jake caught them. He didn't even flinch. He just…caught two people from a kneeling position and set them down.

What the fuck kind of person could do that?!

Leon opened his mouth to find out…and the oil met the fire. The explosion was so loud it turned the world into a shotgun blast of sound. It was all fire, rain of debris, and ducking and running. They moved, they covered, they ran for it. Leon scooped Ben against his front as the series of explosions chased them toward the far side of the ship yard.

Sherry shouted to him as the radio tower came barreling down between them. "LEON! Simmons is in the Kwun-Long building over in Koocheng!"

"Sherry!" He shouted back to her, "Wait! Before you get there I need you to –"

And the tower destroyed the world as it hit. It was all abolished in fire now and wind. It raced and roared around them as they ran for it. The fire licked at their heels. It threw a cyclone of wind around them that was filled with burning bits of destruction.

It threw a tongue of flame beside him and Leon curled Ben away from it, throwing his back toward it. The fire caught his neck and felt like white-hot pain. Something popped and burped fire to his right and he threw up an arm to block his face. Jill was there, blocking them both with her body.

They raced down the narrow path while it chased them, chased them, and nearly killed them. Helena kicked open the small door at the end of the alley and they raced through.

She slammed the door shut and the cool relief was almost startling.

They were in the open air market.

Helena hunched down, hands on her knees, gasping. Jill stumbled and went to one knee. Leon staggered and set Ben down on a small market table. He grabbed the table in both hands and leaned over it while he relearned how to breathe.

Ben made a sound of distress. "Leon…you're bleeding."

Oh, he had no doubt.

He'd just had the shit kicked out of him. Bleeding was the least of his worries. Leon shifted, feeling along his rib cage. He hissed when he reached his fourth intercostal space. Yep. Tender. Impossible to know for sure, but he was hoping not broken.

His other hand crept up his neck to touch the burn. It was pretty bad. It hurt like…well…fire in his blood. His fingers came back wet with blood.

Helena said softly, "Leon…"

And he turned his head toward her. She gestured with her head. He rolled his eyes to Jill. She was still on her knees. She was clutching her belly. And her hands? They were soaked in blood.

He wasn't even aware he was moving. He caught her as she tumbled back toward the ground. He spilled to one knee to hold on to her. He slid in her blood.

There was a huge jagged piece of metal sticking out of her stomach. It was still smoking. She was gasping. She was bleeding too fast, too much.

It was mortal.

It was a mortal wound.

His mind said: you know she's dead. She's gone. Do it. Put her down and don't let her turn.

His hand curled around the metal. Blood spilled from the corners of her mouth. Ben was sobbing. Helena was guarding them. The world…it stopped making sense. It didn't make sense. His training kicked in. It smashed down like doors to save him from the grief that ate around the edges of his mind and made him numb.

He jerked the metal free in a burst of blood.

She screamed. She bowed. Ben ran forward to throw his hands over the wound. Leon dug in his vest and grabbed the hemostatic powder there. Jill couldn't even speak. She was bleeding too fast. She was bleeding too much.

His mind said: She's done, you fucking idiot. She's done. Let her go down.

His heart said: What happens to me if she dies?

And he knew that answer. His heart? It went with her.

Ben was crying so much he was hiccupping and snotting everywhere. Jill grabbed his face with one hand. She gasped and she smiled. She whispered, "Stay quiet, Benny. Stay strong. Survive."

Jesus Christ.

Leon dumped the powder over her belly. She was shaking so badly. He could hardly hold her.

No…no. HE was. He was shaking.

Jill rolled her head to him. She grabbed his vest to draw him down. He thought, madly: **_Don't._**

And she kissed him.

Tears spilled shiny and slick down her cheeks. She said, "I waited my whole life for you, Leon Kennedy. Save him. Love him. Swear it."

He was shaking his head. It was continuous. It was denial. His hands kept slipping in her blood to compress her belly. It wasn't bleeding anymore.

The hemostat? Or...maybe she didn't have any more blood to lose.

Someone was making a low sound of grief. He knew it was him. He couldn't breathe. Was it the smoke? Why couldn't he breathe? Because he was dying.

He was dying.

"Jill…" His voice broke, desperate now, "Don't leave me. I can't do this without you. Don't leave me."

She gasped, she jerked a little. And she whispered, "Swear it. Love him. Raise him. Keep him."

He pulled her into him, keening low and painful now. "…I swear it."

Her hands curled into his vest, her body gasped. Leon whispered it now, as it broke him and spilled out of him like a prayer, "…please don't. Stay with me, Jill…I need you..."

But it didn't matter. It didn't. Because her hands slid off his vest, her body breathed a long breath…and Jill Valentine died in his arms.

And Leon Kennedy knelt her blood...still holding on.

* * *

There's a silence that pervades after death. It fills up the heart like water in a cup. It shifts the dynamic of the world until it feels like those left behind are existing inside a bubble of grief and pain. Leon wasn't entirely sure he could draw a full breath.

He waited, watched, waited, watched and her chest didn't rise again. He should check her pupils…he should check her pupils for fixation and dilation. But he couldn't do it. He couldn't. He couldn't do it.

Helena stepped forward and checked for a pulse. The sound of ragged weeping from Ben was loud. It was the only sound. And it was horrible. Helena met Leon's eyes and shook her head.

There was no crying for him. Why wasn't he crying? He was shaking. The grief…it was bone numbing. It was too far down, too far in for tears. He was just…empty.

He scooped her hair back from her face. His thumb traced her porcelain cheek. How could this be where she died? How could this be it? She'd fallen to her death and come back stronger, tougher, faster…

She'd fallen to her death…and come back.

"Oh god," He laid her flat on the ground. Covered in her blood, he started doing compressions on her chest. Helena tried to grab him.

"Leon…Leon…stop. Let her go. She's gone. Let her go."

Leon shook her off him. "Get your hands off me! Cover me. Watch Ben." He reached thirty and gave Jill two breaths. He started again.

"Leon…" She glanced at the boy. He was watching him so raptly.

"Helena," He kept counting, pressing on her chest…counting, "Either cycle in here and help me or shut the fuck up. She heals. She heals faster than normal. She heals. I need to keep her body alive so she can heal. HELP ME or shut the fuck up."

Helena shook her head. She'd never in her life seen someone try so hard to bring someone back from the dead. It was insane. It was insane to stand here wasting time. It was…

Her eyes shifted to the pale bloody corpse of Jill Valentine. Jill…who'd held her that morning while she'd cried. Jill…who'd always been so fucking nice, so supportive…Forgive yourself, Helena…it's time. Helena shook her head and took a step forward. She shoved Leon aside and started compressing that cold chest. "Move over. Stand guard. You'll weaken if we don't trade off."

Ben had stopped crying. He was sitting in her blood and staring. He was sitting in her blood and waiting. He was sitting…in Jill's blood.

Leon picked him up. He carried him back and stood him up. "Ben…look at me."

Ben turned his eyes from her body. He turned them to Leon's face. Shock. It was all over the little boy now. It was all over him. Leon cupped his face with one bloody hand. "Look at me and listen. Focus on my face. I'm trying…" His voice broke and scared him. He couldn't do this. He couldn't break down and cry now. Not now. He'd never get back up.

Gathering his resolve, he tried again, "I'm trying to get her back. I'm trying. We're trying."

Ben was nodding, staring at his face now with glassy eyes.

Leon rubbed his arms briskly in the jacket he wore. "It might not work, Ben. It might not work. But I have to try. I have to try."

Ben kept nodding. He said, so softly, "I didn't keep my p'omise. I didn't p'otect her. I didn't keep my p'omise, Leon."

Leon shook his head, sharp and fast. "Don't give up. Not yet. Not yet." He pulled his sidearm and flipped it in his hand. He handed it hilt first to the little boy that watched him. "Now you keep that promise, Ben. You protect her so I can save her. Protect us both."

Ben held his gaze and the glassy edge in his eyes snapped back into focus. He grabbed the heavy Glock and nodded. He nodded. And he whispered, "I will be her hero now."

Leon kissed his forehead. "I know you will."

And that baby born in blood in Tall Oaks stood guard while Leon rushed back to Jill's body to keep compressing her chest. Helena rose to join Ben and watch the market for trouble. They'd been so goddamn lucky so far.

The market felt empty, looked empty, and the world was frozen while they worked on her. It wasn't long. It couldn't be long. It felt like a minute. It felt like a hundred years.

He kept pushing. He kept pushing on her. He kept going. On the fifth round, his body started shaking with the effort of it. And he drew back from breathing into her mouth and said, "Come back to me, Jill. Come back. This isn't how you die. This can't be how you die. Bleeding out in some fucking dirty alley. Stupid. Stupid. Come back."

Helena shifted in and Leon rose. He paced, shooting his hands back through his bloody hair. The ragged sound of breathing was so loud. It was so loud. Was it Ben?

No.

It was him.

This wasn't how it ended. How could this be how it ended? He'd been looking for her all his life. Was this how the world ended for him? Was it three goddamn days of happiness and then a lifetime of misery? How the hell was he supposed to keep going in a universe that spilled that kind of shit storm down on a man who'd spent most of his life fighting for justice for those who couldn't?

He felt the pain fracture. He felt it hurt in ways that he couldn't stop. He had to get away. He had to get away now. He was going to fall apart, and he COULDN'T…not in front of Ben. He couldn't.

"No."

He turned back and shoved Helena aside. He pressed on her chest, he breathed in her mouth, he pressed on her chest, he breathed in her mouth. And then? Well, he pulled her body up into his arms and rocked there in her blood.

And he shouted at her. "You have to GET UP JILL! You have to get up now! I can't do this without you! I can't fucking do it. Do you hear me!? GET UP JILL!"

The world? It shifted again. It fractured and spilled and stole his breath. He made a sound that scared him and he knew he was done. He was done. He was going to sob and break and die in the blood beside her.

He was done.

And he whispered, so softly now, "You have to get up, Jill…you have to get up."

He pressed on her chest. He gave her air. He pressed on her chest. He gave her air. He whispered to her, "Get up, Jill. Get up."

He pressed on her chest. He gave her air. Ben whispered, "Wake up, Jill." And broke his fucking heart.


	17. Chapter 17

**-Necromancy-**

* * *

He pressed on her chest. He gave her air. He pressed on her chest. He gave her air. The air from his lungs SOBBED out of him into her. He pressed on her chest. He gave her air. His arms were shaking.

He pulled her into his arms and rocked her in that blood. He rocked and he shouted at her, one more time, "Get the FUCK up, Jill!"

He made some sound like he'd start sobbing. Oh GOD, he thought desperately, DON'T. If he started, he'd never stop. He'd wait to die here in the blood beside Jill Valentine. He'd just...give up. Jesus Christ. This is what loving somebody looked like. It looked like grief so wide and deep it was worse than anything you've ever felt before. It takes away the joy and the laughter and the light and fills it with pain that never ends.

He didn't know how he'd be able to leave her here on the ground, like garbage, and get up. He didn't think he could. He didn't think he'd make it. He didn't think he'd survive it.

Ben pressed a kiss to Jill's forehead and nearly killed him where he worked, "Maybe she's like Snow White. Maybe she needs a kiss."

Jesus Christ. Helena breathed, "Leon...you need to stop. Please. You need to stop."

He didn't know _how._ He shook his head, breathing raggedly, "Just watch the fucking market, Helena. Ok? Just watch it."

Quietly, she whispered, "...alright."

It was rage at the world that kept him going. The same rage that kept him alive when all else had failed. The same rage that ran like lava in his veins now instead of blood. He pushed on her and blew in her mouth and found the will power to keep going.

For himself. For Ben. For her. She'd lain in his arms and offered back some kind of hope that had died in Tall Oaks with Adam. It was the hope that all of it, every moment, was for something that mattered. It had to matter. What they did, what they gave up, what they fought for... _it had to matter._ Or what the hell were they fighting for!?

He shouted at her, almost desperately, "GET UP, JILL! WAKE UP! NOW! I know you can hear me! I know you can! GET UP!"

Jesus it was loud. If there were bad guys waiting, they'd find them for sure now. Because the man called The Ghost? He was shouting at the top of his lungs in a dirty Chinese alley like a lunatic.

It was Ben that put a hand on his arm when it trembled. It was Ben that whispered, "...maybe give her a kiss, ok? Just give her a kiss."

Like the world was a fairy tale. Like he'd kiss her and she'd just...wake up.

A sound broke out of Leon's mouth that scared him. It was something ugly. It was something horrible. What? A sob? It was bad. He shook his head and tugged her up into his arms. She flopped, like a doll, broken and limp. Leon turned his mouth to hers and pressed, so so softly. Her mouth was pale and her skin ashen, waxy, pale.

She was dead. He knew she was dead.

But he kissed her anyway. Because the little boy beside him still had hope. He put his face against her neck and trembled.

Leon whispered, on a broken sound, "...you have to get up, Jill. Now. Please...please get up. I can't do this without you. Get up, ok? Please? Just breathe. Just wake up. Please..."

And Ben shouted at her, just once more, "YOU GET UP, JILL! YOU GET UP! NOW!"

He was so small. He sounded so scared. Leon started to let her go.

And she scared the piss out of him.

"…I will if you'll stop screaming at me."

Ben burst into tears and startled them all. A child's final breaking point apparently. Helena scooped him against her leg while holding her place on the look out.

And Jill whispered, "...why is everyone just sitting around?"

For a moment, he was pretty sure he'd imagined it. It was likely he'd stepped out reality so far that he was hallucinating her. Maybe she was haunting him. Maybe she was a ghost on his shoulder haunting him.

But then she lifted her hand and cupped the back of his head.

And he thought maybe she'd turned and she was a zombie…and maybe she was going to eat him…and maybe he didn't care anymore.

She whispered, "Why are you covered in blood, Leon Kennedy?"

And he died.

He was pretty sure he died. Was he dead?

Jill felt dead. She felt pretty dead. She was cold and her mind was trying to put her to sleep to deal with whatever had happened to her. Her head was heavy and her hands were heavy…and sticky. She was sticky. She lifted her hand to look at it and realized it was all bloody. She was bloody. He was bloody.

He was bloody and holding her.

And she could hear Ben weeping.

Helena whispered, "Oh my GOD. It WORKED!"

What worked?

Ben was wiping his bloody cheeks. He said, "I stood guard. I did dat. I p'otected you."

And Helena was crying now. She was crying. She was laughing a little. She said, "He wouldn't give up. He wouldn't give up. He said you'd heal it if we just kept you breathing. If we just kept your body alive…he said you'd heal it. I thought he was crazy. I thought he'd finally snapped. I was afraid I'd have to shoot him to get him moving. Oh my god...you're alive."

Oh, my god, Jill thought madly, she'd died. Did she die?

She'd died.

And he wouldn't let her stay dead.

He wouldn't let her stay dead. He'd brought her back from the dead.

It was official: Leon Kennedy was a god. He saved lives. He fought monsters. He climbed buildings. He could bring back the dead.

And he never gave up.

Ben was watching her desperately and she smiled at him, shakingly, "I'm ok, buddy. I'm ok. You did so good. I'm so proud of you."

Leon said nothing. She was half convinced he was the dead one. He simply knelt there, holding on. She gripped handfuls of his vest at his back and felt the tremble down his spine that told her he was alive.

Jill whispered, "You big liar…you said to leave you behind…but you didn't. You didn't leave me behind. You big fat liar."

He hadn't said a word. He hadn't made a sound. He was still clinging to her. He was still holding her against him like she'd die again if he let go. She curled her arms around him and clung.

"….you big liar…you wouldn't let me go."

Jesus Christ.

She stroked his hair. She held on. She couldn't believe what kind of faith it took for a man to kneel in her blood and bring her back from the dead. She didn't deserve him. She'd never deserve him.

She was so in love with him it was INSANE.

So, she whispered, "Leon?"

He made a sound against her neck to acknowledge her. He still wouldn't let go. He just…wouldn't let her go. He didn't know how to let her go.

Jill stroked his hair softly and intoned, "…you stink."

He leaned back now to look into her face.

She was so pale. She was so beautiful. And she said, softly, "You do. Yeah. You stink. It's not good. It's pretty bad actually."

He blinked at her. He had blood smeared all over his face. His hair stuck up in front from it. He looked…fucking awful. Terrible. His face was etched with such terrible grief. Her heart stuttered looking at him.

Her heart…beat for him. He'd made sure of that.

So, she smiled…just a little…and added, "Yeah. You smell like burning hair and shit. It's putrid. It's terrible."

He blinked again at her. "I stink?"

"Yeah. Pretty bad."

Another blink. Those eyes, she thought, beautiful in the bloody face; gray and blue and beautiful. "And you look terrible. Maybe I should trade you in for a younger model."

His face crumbled. It just…it just crumbled. She shifted her weak hands and grabbed it, holding on. She was desperate now. Desperate. Her trembling voice was urgent, earnest, and raw, "Don't. Don't, please. Not yet. Not now. Later…later…but not now. Please. I won't be able to get up if you break. Don't. Just for a little longer."

He was shaking so badly she thought he'd throw her off his lap from it. She'd been trying to make him laugh. Instead? Her horrible jokes had broken him. He was going to turn into a puddle and sob like a baby all over her.

She couldn't have it. If he did, she would too and they'd never get out of the puddle of blood around them.

She was so weak. It was bad. It was scary bad. She fed off his strength like a vampire, if he lost it -

She pulled his face down to press their foreheads together. She whispered, "Not yet, baby. Not yet. Help me up. Please. I need you to help me up. I'm sorry for it. It's awful. It's so unfair. You've been so strong. You've been so strong for me. I need you to keep being strong for me. So, I can be strong for you. Please."

He made a small sound of grief and broke her heart. She kissed his mouth, so, so soft. "Not yet."

And he whispered back, finally, "Not yet."

His eyes opened, clear. Misty. But clear. He held her tired ones with his. "I'm going to destroy Derek Simmons with my bare hands. I'm going to watch the light leave his eyes while he dies. I hope he fights. I hope he shits himself. Because I'm going to piss on his corpse when he's dead."

Jill believed him. Lying there in her that puddle of blood, she believed him. She laughed a little, head swimming. "I know you will. I believe you. Help me up. Please. We need to hurry. Let's hurry."

He pulled her up. She made a small sound of pain as he settled her in his arms. And she whispered, "Take it easy on me, I've been mostly dead all day."

Leon went so still, holding her. He just..went still. He turned her into his body and breathed her in. He laughed quietly against her and whispered, "Did you just reference The Princess Bride? You wonderful, beautiful, brilliant thing. Jill…JILL…stop trying to leave me."

She lifted her hand to give him a weak thumbs up which made him laugh and shift her in his arms. With Helena and Ben covering, they moved slowly through the open air market. His mind was racing.

She was too weak. She was too wounded. How did she go on? He needed to get her medi-evaced as soon as possible. But how? If she heard him alert Hunnigan to her condition, she'd kick his ass…weak or not.

They reached a door on the far side of the market easily enough. It was bound and secured by three heavy locks. Piles of rotting carcasses from boar to bovine lined the filthy streets. Flies had taken up residence with their maggoty cohorts in the exposed and glistening cavities. Naked tissue, muscle, and cartilage laced with glimpses of spine and rib were as far as the eye could see. A tableau of death marked their journey, offering over turned carts and stalls and raided wares where the empty shops remained.

This place had been cleaned out, no lie there. The infection in the city was rampant. He needed to get Jill and Ben to safety. Soon. He needed Barry Burton for that.

Helena said, softly, "You want to wait here with her for a minute? I'll take Ben and see if we can turn up the keys to open this damn door."

Jill turned her head on her shoulders. She had dark circles under her pale eyes. The blonde of her hair on her nearly translucent pale skin seemed ethereal. She was a ghost in a way…wasn't she? She'd risen from the dead after all.

She wasn't just that.

She was also the master of unlocking.

She said, "Put me down, Leon. Let me see it."

He didn't want to put her down. He didn't want to let go of her. He was afraid if he did, she'd slip away. She rolled her eyes to his face and reiterated, softly, "It's ok. Put me down. I'm alright now."

Leon set her on her feet, steadying her with both hands on her arms. She touched his face and leaned in to kiss him, gently. "Give me a minute. Ok? Maybe you could...find some water and rinse your hair a little."

He got the feeling she was saying his hair looked like shit. It was official. She was the woman who'd fucked up Leon Kennedy's hair. He caught a glimpse of himself in the reflective glass of a shop stall.

His hair, literally, stuck straight up in front like he'd moused it into a mohawk. It was...fucking awful. He moved a little to one of the rows of shops with a sink to rinse vegetables and fruit. And he did the best he could to make himself look less...like he'd just bathed in Jill Valentine's blood to bring her back from the dead.

Fuck. He leaned on the sink a minute and breathed. His hands gripped and bared down. The sink groaned under the assault. He wanted to rip it out of the wall and hurl across the market. He wanted to roar like a lion and tear the world apart to reverse the last few days and the horror of another failure to forestall the end of his world.

He wanted somebody, anybody, to tell him _why_ he was still fighting when there was no hope.

There was no hope left.

Quietly, the wind reminded him he was no longer alone. Her voice carried, hoarse but steady, "...not yet. Look at me."

He did, with the mirror above the sink tossing his reflection back at her. She nodded, holding his gaze with a steely determination that fed his own. She repeated it, quietly, "Not yet."

The story of his life. But it wasn't just his story any more...it was theirs.

He let go of the sink and let go of the rage to remember there was always hope. It was standing by the door waiting for him.

Jill watched him, aching. The water slid down his face and made even his pain beautiful. He'd brought her back. He should have left her behind but he'd brought her back.

In all her life, she'd been blessed by having two men that loved her enough to tear the world apart and rewrite the stars to protect her. Chris had never been right for her. Maybe, if life had given them a world that didn't need warriors, they might have been happy. But the universe had offered her another path. It had offered her another chance.

It gave her a man who didn't just come across the world to find her, he brought her back to life to keep her. How did she honor that? How did she repay it? She and Chris had lost each other a long time ago.

She'd nearly forgotten what it was like to weave her world with another's until the risk of losing was so high it killed as it healed.

They'd known each other a handful of days, but she'd been looking for him all her life.

She wanted to hold him. She wanted to hold him and keep on holding until it was over and they were both free to just love each other. And the boy with them.

Instead?

She knelt and Ben stepped up beside her. He touched her face while she examined the locks and slid her tools free to select amongst them. Jill turned to look at him. He leaned over and kissed her mouth, just once, so softly.

It shivered in her and stole her breath. It broke her heart and healed her heart and helped her be strong when she was so weak. And he said, "I p'otected you while they saved you. I did it."

Jill cupped his face and smiled at him. "You did. My hero. Will you cover me while I work?"

"I will." He puffed up his chest and turned back to watch the market. He held the pistol in his hands like he knew what he was doing with it. It was scary and sad to know he had to do it. So young. A baby. A baby protecting them.

Jill queried, gently, "You should have a puppy, not a hand gun."

Ben shook his head, sniffling, "Not yet."

Jesus. Her own words to haunt them both. She'd get him the fucking puppy. And she'd make it so he never had to pick up another gun.

Jill turned back to the door.

Leon looked amongst the market while she worked. It was the stench of rotting meat, yes, and the smell of sulfur from the fire they'd left behind. And there was the wet smell of rain and summer. He glanced up at the turbulent sky to see the boil of blackened clouds kick across the bowl of darkness that was the horizon.

They were in trouble if a heavy storm kicked up. But what choice did they have?

They had to go on.

A lock released with a mechanized hiss. Jill shifted to the second of three.

There was a rustling from one of the stalls. Leon gestured with his head and Helena moved to stand between Jill and the stall in question. Leon palmed the Magnum and aimed it, walking slowly toward the rustle of movement.

A couple of banana crates overturned, spilling their rotting wares onto the ground as the thing making all the noise rose. It was…a wavy tube man with a thousand teeth. It was black and roped and slimy with a mouth opened in a continuous gaping O. It was some kind of leech creature that spilled from the carcass of a rotting boar and burped up…it's own ass. It burped up its ass from its mouth.

Leon quipped, "So much for not going ass to mouth." And he shot it as it attempted to knit itself together with slippery strings of muscle and bubblegum pink intestines. He shot its gaping mouth while it made some kind of high pitched sound almost like nails on a chalkboard.

Wincing, he plugged it full of bullets and watched it flop on the ground and go still. Its face was hamburger and blood as it twitched and died. He shot it twice in the chest for good measure and it…separated. It slurped like a person eating soup and fell apart, disconnecting from its own ass and hips.

So it, apparently, burped up its own body parts and then fell apart when wounded. Like the leech it resembled, it was asexual and capable of regeneration. Horrible. And it smelled like a moldy fart. Was it possible to have a BOW that didn't smell like shit and vomit?

The answer was clearly no.

"Ugh. Gives new meaning to ass face. Seriously."

He turned back to the door and Helena shouted. She was running.

Leon tilted his head at her in surprise and heard it. He heard it too late. It smashed its arm into him and threw him up and out. It knit as he flew. He smashed into the roof of a shop across the street, came down in a mess of sound and bursting boxes, and tried to figure out if his spine was broken. He shifted and watched the ass of the bisected creature rushing toward him. It kicked at him while its intestines flopped around uselessly and he rolled away, shuddering.

Nope.

His spine was definitely not broken.

Apparently, the spine of the creature wasn't either.

Disgusting.

The head and torso with its arms and hands were clamoring over the ground to join the ass. Leon spun a side kick at the hips and legs and sent them skidding over the ground. Something told him NOT to let the two get back together. Like Justin Timberlake and N-Sync, some things were better apart.

He shouted, "Helena! Disable the head and chest!"

And he put three heavy rounds into the flailing butt and legs. It spewed nasty goop and flopped its slimy guts as it kicked and spasmed, jerking and jumping like a landed fish. He could hear Helena firing into the head and arms.

"LEON!"

He turned, kicking the ass and legs across the ground into a pile of boxes, and a hand landed on his face. A hand…grabbed his face. It wasn't attached to anything. It was, literally, a severed hand. It was Thing from The Addam's Family. It settled on his face and started smothering him. And it was so strong it almost broke his nose in the first assault.

Leon staggered, gasping. He stumbled into the wall of the shop and started yanking. It dug dirty fingernails into his face and tried to rip his face off his head. It ground the heel of that putrescent hand into his nose and tried to shove it up into his brain. He was smothering, staggering, and dying…from a hand.

Just a hand.

How fucking degrading was that!?

He felt someone pulling on his vest and he sank to his knees. His lungs were screaming for air. His face was bleeding.

The hand jerked. It went stiff. And it fell off his face to the ground. Ben had it spitted on Jill's little eating dagger like a shish kabob. When it hit the ground, he tugged the knife free and started stomping. His little boots crushed and destroyed. He jumped on it, grinding it into the dirty ground.

Leon was half leaning on the counter of the shop where he'd fallen, watching him. He lifted his hand and felt along his face. His nose was sore and bleeding but didn't feel broken. There were bloody half moon fingernail marks on the left side of his face but it hadn't torn any skin.

He was fucking lucky.

Ben: Boy Hero.

Leon said, "That was the worst hand job I've ever had."

Jill glanced over at him from the door as the final lock clicked open. She blinked at him. He blinked back. And then she laughed, weakly.

Helena was dragging the twitching head and arms she'd destroyed into a shop along the far side of the street. Leon listened to her rummaging around in it. And then he heard the heavy WHIR of a machine firing up. There was a crunch, a sputter of blades, and a splatter of noise as she shoved it…into a meat grinder.

Leon watched her emerge, wiping her hands. She met his look equally. "What?"

Impressed, he laughed a little, "Aren't you something? Welcome to the club, Helena Harper. You're officially one of us now. Baptized in blood."

And she was. She was sprayed with it. It flecked on her pretty face and clothes. She grinned a little and helped him to his feet. "You should have turned me in. Seriously. It would have cleared your name. You could have gone back with Ben and Jill and been safe."

He shook his head and winked at her. "You kidding? It wouldn't have stopped Simmons. We need all the help we can get. You just proved you're worth protecting. Besides, you're startin to grow on me a little bit."

Jill was wavering a little bit. He scooped her against his front like a monkey and let Helena cover them as they moved through the open gate. Ben kept a vigilant watch for them as they moved.

They stepped into the cool night air adjacent to an enormous building. It might not have mattered at all…but Ada Wong slipped through a door at the top of a walkway.

Curious, Helena and Leon locked eyes over Jill. "Ada?!"

Helena shrugged and they moved for the stairs.

The steel steps were loud as they mounted them.

Jill said, "I can walk. Put me down. I'm ok."

He set her down on the top of the walkway and scanned her face. "You need to rest, Jill. Let me call in Barry Burton to get you. Wait here with Ben. He can have you extracted in minutes."

She shook her head, determined. "You don't know that. We don't know anything at this point. But if we stay, it could be Tall Oaks again, Leon. I can't protect him from what I don't know."

He held her gaze for a long moment and finally nodded.

Helena gripped the door handle and nodded. One, two, three. They cleared the room beyond high and low and ready. But it was empty.

They emerged into a warehouse or the beginning of a lab. It was all stone and test tubes. Floating in gunk was horrible faces frozen in death or birth or both. Leon said, "Don't look, Benny. Keep your eyes peeled for hostiles."

Ben nodded, sagely, as they walked through the narrow hallway before them.

On the catwalk above them, Ada called down, "Fancy meeting you here. Like what I've done with the place?"

And there was buzz from the end of the long hallway as an elevator opened.

"Hurry!" Yelled Helena as Ada fired off her grapple gun to dodge a hail of bullets. Who was shooting at her!? What was she doing there!?

The questions kept piling up without any real answers.

But they were running for the elevator at the end of the hall.

Jill and Ben reached it first. They rushed inside and Jill staggered, falling to her hands and knees. Helena and Leon were too far back. Too far. The elevator snapped closed on them.

"Damnit!"

Helena said, "It's ok. It's ok. We'll take the stairs. Let's go!"

They veered off down a short hallway and grabbed the door for the stairwell. They cleared as they ran together, racing toward the top floor. There was the pounding of boots. There was shouting.

At the top of the walk, Ben was trying to help Jill to her feet. She staggered and leaned heavily on the wall. She was breathing too fast. She was too weak. She was afraid for the first time in years. She'd been dead before. Dead. Apparently, her body thought she was still dead. It wouldn't cooperate.

Helena and Leon hit the top of the stairwell.

Across the walk, Ada Wong was being held at gunpoint by a man with an assault rifle. Leon hesitated, torn between helping Jill and stopping Ada Wong from eating a bullet.

Jill waved her hand at him, gasping, "Go! GO! HURRY!"

And so he ran.

Leon raced toward them. Helena turned back to get Jill to her feet.

The gunman raised his weapon to fire and Leon smacked his arm. The shot went wild, peppering the wall as the assault rifle was knocked to the steel floor below them. Leon threw his wrists down to block the short kick the other man threw at his shin. He swung a punch and Leon ducked low and spun a back kick at him.

They grappled and the other man grabbed him to drive his knee into his sternum. Leon barely got his wrists up to block it and the man drove that heavy knee in him, once, twice, and Leon threw an elbow to displace him and swung a reverse hook at him. It was fast. It was brutal. The other man tackled him outright. Leon's feet went down, his hips braced, and he shoved back to keep from losing his feet.

The other man flipped him around and tried to pin his arms. Leon rolled through it across his massive back and tried to get him in a choke hold. Grunting, cursing, the other man had had enough. He let out a shout of rage and hooked Leon under the arm. Leon had a second to think: holy shit. Things were suddenly at warp speed. The other man rolled Leon over his back and threw him out.

It was a good fucking hip toss. Leon went out, he tucked under, he rolled across the floor and came up with his pistol aimed and ready.

And he was face to face with Chris Redfield.


	18. Chapter 18

**-Two Legends-**

* * *

"Chris!?"

Chris lowered his gun a little in surprise. "Leon!? What the hell are you doing here?!"

What was telling about this moment? Neither man lowered his gun. They kept each other pinned there, staring down the barrel of their own demise.

Friends? Not exactly.

"Lower the gun, Chris. She's a key witness. I need her."

"A witness!? Are you fucking kidding me? She's the one who did all of this!"

Leon had never heard Chris Redfield shout before. It rang around the room like a gunshot. It was desperate and loud and angry. He vibrated with rage so thick and wide it was nearly choking. There was nothing to reason with on that face.

"No!" Leon tried like hell anyway. "No. Not her. Simmons. The national security advisor."

"I LOST ALL MY MEN BECAUSE OF HER!"

Jesus. It echoed.

Leon figured, fuck it, and shouted back, "AND I LOST OVER SEVENTY THOUSAND MEN! INCLUDING THE PRESIDENT BECAUSE OF SIMMONS!"

Chris took a step toward him. Leon's gun came up. "Don't! Don't, Chris. Don't. Lower it."

Chris shook his head, shaking with rage. "She's working for Neo-Umbrella. UMBRELLA. Do you know what that means!?"

Leon felt it shiver around him. He felt it arrow in his chest. But he said, softly now, "Yeah.. Yeah, I do."

"And you're still going to protect this woman?"

They held gazes. There was so much Chris needed to know. So much they both need to say. Leon said, with feeling, "I am. I have to."

There was no time at all to explain the why. There'd never been trust between them. How did he explain?

The gun didn't move. For either of them.

Leon tried, once more, "Please, Chris. Let me explain."

And then things shifted. They rolled. Because Jill was there now. She staggered and went to one knee. She said, softly, "Chris?"

And Chris, horrified, returned, "Jill!?"

And the other man with Redfield shouted, "CAPTAIN!"

Leon felt like someone should finish the tableau from the Rocky Horror Picture Show and call, "Rocky!" But there was no time for humor.

The world flashed white light and sound. It went up in smoke. It was bright flash and noise.

Ada Wong had thrown a flashbang.

There was a pop and a mechanical hiss of sound as she fired off the damn grapple gun. Her body whipped through the smoke and flipped to the floor. She ran away laughing while the other man with Redfield fired at her.

And then the kid cursed, "She's getting away!"

He took off after her.

As the smoke cleared, the only person still holding a gun on the other was Leon Kennedy. Because Chris Redfield…was holding Jill. They'd both ran for her before the world have caught fire around them.

And Chris Redfield had gotten there first.

Leon felt that shiver in his guts. And wasn't sure what it meant or if it meant a damn thing. Or if it was even the right time to worry about it.

Chris and Leon eyed each other across the catwalk.

Leon said, softly, "If you take her with you, can you help her?"

Jill shifted in Chris' arms, "No! Shut up! Leon, don't be stupid!"

Chris adjusted Jill against him. The former STARS sniper was filthy and slick with sweat. They were all filthy, tired, and just trying to finish what they'd come here to do. Two pairs of blue eyes held above the body of the woman they both loved.

Because maybe it was done there. Maybe it was never quite right. But that face said Chris Redfield loved the girl in his arms. And in the middle of the flash of light and sound, he'd beaten Leon Kennedy to her to snatch her up. And Chris Redfield wasn't known for being fast.

Leon said, softly, "I know you'll do the right thing here, Chris."

Chris volleyed his eyes over Leon's dirty face. And he saw it too. So there it was, Chris thought, Leon Kennedy loved Jill Valentine. What the fuck had been happening while he'd been drinking himself into oblivion? The world had erupted in viruses and insanity. In what universe did Leon Kennedy love Jill Valentine?! It didn't even make sense. So, Chris returned, "I'll get her out of here. You take care of Simmons. The BSAA will handle Ada Wong."

Jill shoved against his chest. He glanced down at her. She was so fucking pale. She was COVERED in blood. What in the hell had Kennedy let happen to her!?

She pushed again. "Put me down, Chris! Put me down."

He started after the man who'd ran after Ada. She shoved at him. "PUT ME DOWN, Chris! Damnit! Just do it."

There was little you could to argue with her once she got started. So, he set her down. She wavered and he grabbed her arm to hold her upright. Ben hurried forward to help her.

Chris darted his eyes from her to the boy. Jill shook her head, "Not now. Now? I need a transfusion but I don't have time for that."

They held eyes. He knew what she was asking for. He was a lot of things. But he knew what you had to do to finish the mission.

She said, "You're out of time here, Chris. Give it to me and go find Ada Wong. Trust me to help him finish Simmons. Please."

Without another word, he nodded. He opened his hip pack and dug through it for a moment.

Jill glanced at Leon and said, "Do nothing. Ok?"

What kind of request was that?

He grabbed the back of her neck. Ben shouted in surprise and Helena grabbed him back against her. Chris jerked Jill into him, adjusted her against his chest, and she nodded. They held gazes from inches away. His arm moved, sharply. Jill gasped. Her body jerked like he'd stabbed her. Because he had…essentially. Her hands came up to plant against his chest.

The adrenaline zinged through her like a shot of liquid courage. It broke from her mouth on a small cry. She grabbed Chris' biceps and nodded. And she said, "Go. Get her! Stop her. Don't die on me."

He nodded and let her go. Over his shoulder, he instructed, harshly, "Keep her safe. Or I'll bury you where no one will ever find you. I promise you that."

He ran down the stairs with a clang of metal and noise.

Jill turned to face him. He still had his pistol loose but ready in his gloved hands. Those hands that had brought her back. She moved toward him and shoved him. It was a good shove. It had him stumbling a little.

They held eyes. Both sets were blazing now.

And she whispered, "Stop trying to protect me. Stop trying to send me away. I will NEVER leave you. Do you understand me?"

The silence spoke volumes. Ben, a little nervous by the tension between them, said, "He has to p'otect you, Jill. His Mom made him p'omise. You have to keep a p'omise. You have to!"

Jill smiled at him and ruffled his hair but she kept her eyes on Leon. He finally said, low and harsh, "I will take you hating me forever, Jill...if it keeps you safe. I held you in your fucking blood and watched you die. I will keep trying to protect you. Always. Forever. I promised my Mom I would."

Her mouth twitched. She narrowed her eyes.

And then she shook her head and let it go. Sneaky little shit that he was, he'd made her smirk at him when she was mad. God damn, Leon Kennedy...she fucking loved him.

Jill, feeling better than she'd felt in days, gestured with her head. "Hurry. Now. Let's get, Simmons before my buzz wears off."

They ran down the adjacent stairs now. No time to worry about Ada. No time to worry about Chris. No time to worry about adrenaline shots to the heart or long sad looks between two people who'd once shared a bed.

Leon laughed a little at himself as they ran. Was he jealous of Chris Redfield?

Kinda. Yeah. Kinda.

It was a fool that wasn't. They were clearly involved to a strong degree. They were clearly intertwined with each other's lives like snakes. But what had she said? Something had always been missing with them. Because Chris would never love her the way she needed.

He wasn't insane. He knew the rush of the last few days would fade. When they were safe and whole and the fight was finished…would she still look at him like she had been the last few days? Or would she start wondering if something was missing?

Shit.

There was no time to worry about it.

Maybe Chris Redfield was the first guy that had loved her. Maybe that was true. But he wouldn't be the last. The last guy to love her? He was racing with her across the dirty pavement to try to save the world. He'd already knelt the blood and saved his.

Because she was there to race with him.

And the little boy between them was there to complete them.

And there was no time left to worry about what came next or what came before. There was only now. And now…was the time to destroy Derek Simmons.

They stepped through a door back into the muggy summer air. Ben was barely through the door and a voice called, "Well…this IS unexpected!"

Three guns turned to the man standing on the bridge above them. He was surrounded by guards with heavy assault weapons. The train was rushing beside them now, throwing light and sound in a rapid chug of movement. Wheels sent up squeals of metal into the stagnant night as the train cars barreled passed with a blare of horns and speed.

Derek Simmons was cast in shadow and flickering light as he grinned down at them in a pristine white suit. Helena shouted his name, holding her pistol on him.

The door opened again and Sherry Birkin alighted from it with Jake in tow.

Sherry shouted, "WAIT! Don't!" And rushed forward.

Helena hesitated, waiting.

Simmons said, "Ah, Agent Birkin, impeccable timing as always. Take these fools into custody would you?"

Sherry glanced at Leon and back at Simmons. "They said you're responsible for this. For all of it. Tell me that isn't true."

Simmons shrugged with boredom. "In the interest of national security, some things are necessary I'm afraid."

Leon spit at him, between his teeth, "Can't see how killing the president is GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY, you son of a bitch."

Sherry said, softly, "The President is dead!?"

And Simmons chuckled, "Well, you can thank Leon for that, it seems."

Helena shouted, "God DAMN you, Simmons!"

And Simmons shrugged again and gestured with his hands, "Dispose of them, would you?"

The world slowed down. Jill grabbed Ben to her and leaped. Helena threw herself left. Leon went right. Sherry and Jake spun in beside him. And the bullets hailed down on them split the air in a firestorm.

Sherry glanced at Leon from the crouch they were in.

She whispered it now, "No."

Leon shook his head at her. "You need to be more careful."

Jake snorted a little, "What's the plan here, big hero?"

Leon glanced beyond them at the far side of the area. Simmons had retarded the fire at them. Apparently, Sherry was worth protecting for Simmons. Interesting.

"Can you get to that door?"

Jake looked over at it. "Sure. Why?"

"I need you to protect, Sherry."

"Why don't we just waste them all?"

Leon held his gaze, amused. "Christ. Was I ever that young and stupid?"

Sherry eyed him drolly. With a cough to clear his throat, Leon returned, "Right. Just…get her out of here."

Sherry queried, "What are you gonna do?"

Leon shrugged a little and said, "What else? Waste the fuck out of Simmons."

Jake snorted and laughed a little. "That's what I'm talkin about, man."

Bullets struck the wall beside them. Simmons called, "Can we get on with this please? I do have other things to do here."

Leon gestured with his head. Sherry offered him a tiny SD card. She pressed it into his hand. "This…is everything you need to stop Simmons. It's the C-virus. He wants it. Use it and destroy him."

Leon held her gaze. He finally nodded a little. "Thank you. I will. I'll put a call into FOS to get you guys some protection. You ready?"

Sherry nodded and braced. Jake gave Leon a grudging nod of respect.

"Good." Leon glanced at Jill and Helena. They nodded. "Then GO!"

They spilled out and laid down cover fire while Jake and Sherry raced for the far door. On the platform, Simmons instructed one of his men. "Alert the men outside about Birkin and Mueller."

He turned to leave his men to finish Leon Kennedy and a J'Avo was there watching him. Simmons tilted his head and the J'avo put a blowgun to his mouth and spit. The blow dart stuck Simmons in the side of the neck and one of his men put down the offender. Simmons staggered, grabbing at the dart in his neck.

He jerked it out and stared at it.

C-Virus.

He whispered, "Damn you…Ada Wong…well played."

Helena shouted, "He's getting away! LEON!"

Jill put down the last of the men shooting at them and they raced toward Simmons. He staggered and fell over the railing…right on top of the racing train beneath him.

Without any hope for it, Leon rushed the train beside them. He grabbed Ben and threw him like a dart. Helena leaped. Jill dove for it. And Leon pushed off.

Ben right through the open compartment door and rolled. Helena grabbed on and spilled in after him. Jill caught the back edge of the train ladder and tossed her hand out.

She and Leon gripped forearms as the speed of the train tried to rip him free and send him spinning into the dark.

She looped her arm around the ladder and held on while he fought the rush of it to pull himself level beside her.

They held on until the train cornered and then climbed up the ladder.

Simmons was staggering atop the train. Finding their footing, Jill and Leon aimed down on him. Leon shouted, above the clackety roar of wheels and track, above the din of the wind that tried to smash into them and send them over the bridge into the water beneath.

"GIVE UP SIMMONS!"

And Simmons turned toward them, laughing. "You fools! You idiots! Do you come here to avenge the President? While that TRAITOR runs free?"

Leon queried, "What traitor?"

"ADA WONG! Who knows what she has in store for the world! Why chase me? GET HER!"

Leon glanced at Jill. She shook her head. And he said, "Another team went after her…but you, Simmons? You're all ours."

Simmons roared his rage at them. His face was spilling through with mutation. Jill made a small sound of distress.

"Had that idiot disclosed the truth of Raccoon City, the US would have lost all credibility. It would have lost its authority. The global political fall out would have been catastrophic!"

Jill called back to him now, "So to prevent one potential disaster, you create another? No matter how many people you KILL in the process!?"

He shifted his eyes to her, "It's what WE DO! WE PROTECT THE US AT ALL COSTS!"

Leon shouted back at him now, feeling the burst of rage inside him like a madness that had no end. "NOT AT ALL COSTS! YOU SON OF A BITCH! WHO ARE YOU TO PLAY GOD WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES!?"

Simmons roared, "HE WAS LEADING US INTO CHAOS! THAT FOOL HAD TO BE STOPPED!"

He staggered and went to his knees. He gasped, he trembled, and he whispered, "That fucking woman…that BITCH…damn her…not to me…NOT ME….not me…"

He screamed. It was horrible. It was awful. It was the wail of the damned. It was terrifying.

Jill shot him while he burst into flame. His body caught fire like he'd been doused in accelerant. The bullet spun him to the side and his face split apart, throwing fluid and blood in a horrible tableau.

He was no longer Simmons. In a handful of seconds, he burst from the burning shell of his mortal form and leaped over them. He was a muscled monster the size of an elephant with the agility and naked muscle of a wolf. He roared from a mouth filled with fangs as long as a forearm.

The naked muscle that covered his body was sinew and dripping ecotopic fluid and boney protrusions like armor surrounded the massive size of it. It crawled like a licker across the roof of the train toward them now, impossibly fast.

Leon shot it once in its roaring mouth and rolled to miss losing his head to its swiping claws.

Jill drilled it in the ass as it swept its arm at him again.

It reversed, skidded, and threw sparks into the sky from the raped metal beneath those deadly talons.

It raced for her and she threw herself into the open compartment beneath her. It leaped inches from where she'd been, roaring.

Leon dropped down across from her. They held eyes for a brief moment.

And the look on their face was the same.

How in the HELL did they stop that thing?

The train raced into a tunnel. And the roof peeled back like a can opener had been taken to it. Simmons exploded down into the compartment with them, roaring.

Jill shot him in the face even as they retreated. They leaped into the next compartment and ran for it.

Helena and Ben were waiting as they hit the next one. Leon shook his head at them and grabbed the boy to him. Like a monkey, Ben clung as they ran.

Leon reached the last compartment and tossed him up through the hatch. The sound of Helena and Jill firing on Simmons chased them up to the roof. When Ben grabbed him to pull him up, Leon shouted at him. "Listen to me! Listen, Ben! Keep running from that thing, do you hear me? Don't stop! DON'T LOOK BACK! What do we say!?"

"….leave you behind…"

"Yeah. LEAVE ME BEHIND. GO!"

They ran across the roof and Simmons burst out six feet behind them. Ben let out a cry of fear and ran as fast as he could, stumbling under the wind and rocking tug of the train. Leon spun back, giving him time to flee.

Simmons raced toward him.

Leon filled him full of rounds from the Magnum, holding his feet easily even as the train pitched and tried to throw him off into the tracks beneath them.

He saw Jill and Helena leap up behind Simmons. They drilled him while he spun, reversed, and raced toward them. Leon reloaded and kept on shooting.

The train cornered hard and Jill went to one knee. Simmons passed over her head as he leaped. She rolled. Helena spun left and kept on shooting.

The beast roared, staggered, and reverted to human form. The bleeding, leaking, horrible form of Simmons was half naked and spastically jerking on its knees.

Leon reached it first. He kicked it to its back and straddled it. And then?

Well, he was a good as his word.

He hammered the shit out of Derek Simmons with his fists. He drove a punch into that ugly face that echoed. He jabbed him twice, crossed, and smashed the other man down into the steel roof like he'd beat him to death. Someone was shouting with it.

The moment he realized it was him, Jill grabbed his bloody hand to stop him.

She gave him calm eyes.

Helena stepped over his shoulder and shot Simmons between the eyes where he lay.

Jill held Leon's gaze over the body. She cupped his cheek in her other hand. "It's ok now. Ok? It's ok now."

Leon drew a ragged breath and climbed to his feet, nodding. He panted. Ben was watching him steadily.

He queried, "Is it over?"

And Derek Simmons got to his feet like he'd been pulled by strings. Like a puppet pulled by a perverted marionette. He levered up and grabbed Leon's face in one bloody fist.

Jill shouted and was slapped away like she was nothing.

Ben screamed.

Helena tried to get a shot.

And Simmons just threw him. Like he was nothing. Like he wasn't a full grown man. Like he was a puppet or a piece of shit or a baseball.

Up, out...gone.


	19. Chapter 19

**-Leon vs. the B.U.B (Big Ugly Bastard)-**

* * *

Airborne, Leon felt the wind cup him as he went. He figured, this is where he died beneath the rushing train, and down he came. He hit the bed of the cargo train that raced beside them on the neighboring track.

Gasping, Leon tried to figure out if his back was broken.

Nope.

And Helena screamed at him, "LEON! RUNNNN!"

Derek Simmons had become one BIG UGLY BASTARD.

The beast of Derek Simmons landed behind him. Leon vaulted to his feet and started running. Simmons had mutated again. This time his face was lodged on some kind of elongated mass of a neck above its back. The spine had exploded into a massive boney mess. It towered over the muscled body. And it was equipped a dozen boney protrusions that were aimed at him like guns.

The fear beat in his blood as he ran. Ben was screaming at him from the neighboring train.

Leon vaulted over a row of railroad ties and slid across the block of them. The beast of Simmons chased him roaring. He leaped, desperately, and pulled himself up onto the roof of the train car. Behind him, the warbling cry of the beast lit the air, "KEENNNNEEDY!"

And he'd NEVER hated his name so much in his life.

Terrified, Leon kept on running.

Jill shouted, "Leon! LEON! JUMP!"

He veered left and pushed. He pushed like he was pole vaulting for the gold. Simmons smashed into the roof of the train where he'd been and collapsed it like it was nothing. Leon gave a shout of fear and grappled for the roof of the train where Jill and Helena waited.

They jerked him up after them.

Ben grabbed him to hold on.

And Simmons leaped after them.

The enormous beast hit the train and ripped away the roof where they stood. They were tossed into the main compartment with a scream of metal and tumble of fear. Jill spilled into a seat and rolled. Helena fell to her face and scrambled.

Leon hit on his side, keeping Ben from smashing into the floor.

The side of the train was ripped away in a burst of light and sparking metal. It squealed. It tumbled into the dark as the wind rushed in to whip their hair and offered them the view of Simmons racing beside the train.

He roared at them again, "YOU WORTHLESS IGNORANT SLUGS! I WILL GUT YOU WHILE YOU SCREAM!"

Leon threw Ben toward the far side. "DUCK! STAY DOWN!"

And the bony protrusions of Simmons lit up like lighters at a rock show. His feet sparked as he ran along the tracks beneath him. He was aiming. He was AIMING at them.

Leon shouted, "GET DOWN!"

And the firey pieces of bone shot toward them like bullets.

They tore through the train like knifes launched by a practiced hand. They squealed where they stuck. They ripped apart seats and the floor and the naked steel frame that remained.

It stunk like burning metal and sulfur. The wind smelled like fire and death. Leon felt one zing by his face and spill blood. He dropped to one knee and aimed down his arm at those pounding feet.

The heavy round hit, the monster staggered, tripped, and spilled face down on the tracks. He rolled, throwing sparks and roaring.

Leon grabbed the hatch above him and hoisted himself up. Helena threw herself up after him.

Simmons roared in rage and raced fast and desperate to catch up. But he didn't just catch up, he passed their train. He kept on running. And then he spun to a stop and turned back toward them. Leon knew, he knew, that Simmons was about to play chicken with their train.

He was going to plow right into them and send them plummeting over the side of the bridge they were on to their deaths.

Simmons roared, "LEON!"

And it was enough.

It was ENOUGH.

Leon shouted, "SIMMONS! YOU MOTHER FUCKER!"

He waited. He waited for it. He watched that stupid beast race toward them, it fired off those horrible firey knives at them. One caught Leon's arm and split his shirt, spilling blood down his arm. It didn't matter. It didn't matter anymore.

Leon shot him in the feet again. Once…twice…and the third time spilled the beast onto its face.

He shouted, "GRAB ON HELENA!"

And the body of the beast rolled over the tracks, roaring. It was hit head on by the train. The train reared, it tried to spin sideways. It threw the body up into the air like it was nothing. And Simmons spilled back to human form as he landed on the roof in front of them.

Simmons oozed, he gushed, he gasped. He was split in places like he'd been carved up by Freddy Krueger. He staggered, he screamed at them. "Do you know what happens to the world if I die!?"

Leon shouted back at him, "I don't know about anyone else. But me? I'm having a FUCKING PARTY!"

Simmons burst apart again in a spill of fluid and screams. He hit the roof and the metal peeled, squealed, and flew toward them with a careless speed. It sheared free without stopping.

Leon dropped, throwing himself to his side to miss losing his head. Helena didn't. She remained standing as the metal missed her face by a breath. And she fired.

One bullet. Just one. She put a clean shot in the mutated face that roared at them.

Right between his fucking eyes.

Simmons roared. He glanced up as a helicopter lifted into the sky away from them. And he cried out, "NOO! How could my family abandon me!?"

He lost his footing.

He scrambled and fell over the side of the roof. He hit the tracks in front of the racing train. The mass was too much. He went under the train, screaming in horror. Blood geysered and the train couldn't hold on. It pitched, it went parallel. The wheels screamed and caught fire with a burst of light and sparks. The compartments rocked and fell sideways like the body of a snake that had lost its head.

Leon scrambled, he shouted, "JILL!?"

Her voice called to him, "Leon!?"

"JUMP! GRAB BEN! JUMP!"

And there was no time now. It was done. The train rolled. It threw him out.

He leaped over the side of the bridge. The water raced toward him. And he hit, sinking. It stole his breath. It was coupled with the explosion as the train went up with a massive burst of sound and fire.

He kicked through the water and came up, gasping. He spun. He spun again. He shouted.

"Helena?!"

"I'm here!"

She was clutching a buoy, safe.

He spun again. "JILL!?"

There was no answer. There was no answer. He felt the panic of it spread through his guts. "BEN!?"

And a tiny voice answered, "Leon!"

Ben was on the far shore. He was waving his arms. Jill was climbing out of the water beside him. Relief spilled through him so hard, he was dizzy. Leon sank beneath the water to use the cold to gather his thoughts.

He swam toward them and climbed free onto the cold pavement.

Jill pulled him up as Ben helped Helena out of the water.

Leon clutched her close to him on his knees. Undone, Jill grabbed him around the waist and held on. They panted, shivering a little in the muggy air. She said, quietly, "We're ok. We're alright. It's done?"

Helena answered, holding on to Ben. "Yeah. It's done. He's dead. The fucking B.U.B."

Jill tilted her head and he told her, "...big ugly bastard."

The humor danced across her face. "You acronym stuff like that, Mr. Kennedy?"

He winked at her, "When it suits me, you bet."

"What do you call me?"

He shook his head. He eased his mouth beside her ear and whispered,"...mine."

Oh. Her heart. It danced a tattoo in her chest as she breathed, "...ditto."

There was the lolling gong of a buoy out in the water. Ben said, quietly, "Can we…go home now?"

Leon turned his eyes to him, his cheek on Jill's damp hair. "Yeah, buddy. Yeah. Let's go home."

They got to their feet. Jill clutched at his vest to be sure he could stand. Touched, cupped her face. He wasn't gentle. He held her with a purpose. She lifted her brows at him.

Leon intoned, "You doin ok?"

"I'm great. I'm wonderful. I'll be better in a hot shower with a steak in my belly. But I'm good."

Leon narrowed his eyes, amused. "I've never eaten steak in the shower. But there's a first time for everything. What the hell right? Let's give it a shot."

Ben and Helena were moving toward the stairs to leave the dock where they'd pulled themselves up. Leon paused, listening to the voices above them.

Someone shouted, "Why are we evacuating? There's been no evidence of the virus here!"

He glanced at Jill. She held his eyes for a long moment.

Her fingers curled around the shoulders of his vest. He said, quietly, "I'm gonna kiss you before we get moving again."

Jill laughed a little. "…awesome."

Crazy about her, he ducked his head and kissed her. It was a good kiss. Smooth and sexy. He heard Ben make a barfing sound by the stairs. Helena laughed a little.

Jill twisted her fingers into his hair as he rotated just enough to turn her into his body.

Why not? He thought. The day was saved right? The bad guy was dead. The people were evacuating. They'd put boots on the ground to control the spread in Lanshiang. They had to be outside of Tatchi now and things were ok here. An evacuation was clearly happening for safety's sake.

His arms slid down and lifted her against his front. Her feet dangled.

Ben said quietly, "Groooossss."

And Jill laughed into his mouth a little. They drew apart, grinning at each other.

And his earpiece buzzed at him. "Leon!? Come back."

He touched it. "Hunnigan. Simmons is done. It's done here."

"Awesome. Thank fucking god. But we have a problem on my end. Sherry and Jake were abducted before we could extract them. Satellites put them on an abandoned underwater oil field about eighty kilometers outside of Tatchi."

Leon furrowed his brow. He let go of Jill but she kept her hand curled around his belt, holding on to him. He winked at her a little and queried, "What? Why?"

Helena called out to them. "The data, Leon. The data she gave you. Simmons wanted it, remember?"

Leon pulled out the tiny SD card and popped it into his phone. It threw data at them as they stood there, reading it. It uploaded to Hunnigan at the same time.

Jill whispered, "Oh my god..oh my god…he's got the antibodies for the virus."

Hunnigan came back to him, "I have a patch through to Chris Redfield."

Leon lifted his brow at Jill. "Redfield?"

And Chris came back to him over his headset. "Leon!? Are you alright? Where are you?!"

The desperation in his voice frightened Leon a little. "I'm fine. We're fine. We're just outside of Tatchi…why?"

"GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!"

The sky split with a whooshing metallic zip of sound. Leon glanced up. Jill looked up. Helena and Ben looked up.

A missile streaked across the sky toward the heart of the city.

Helena whispered, "Oh god…."

And the world was filled with screams. The missile exploded but it didn't spill fire. It didn't ignite flame and burn them down where they stood. It sent gushing plumes of infection out in a murdering cloud. The gas spilled across the whole city, blue and noxious and deadly.

Chris came back to him, "Leon! Are you there!?"

"I'm fine. I'm here…but things…are fucking bad here, Chris. They're bad."

Panic had spread like mass hysteria through the crowd of fleeing evacuees. Where the gas struck, they fell. They turned. They died. They fed on each other and rose again. They fled, screaming. They died, screaming. The crunch and squelch of bone and blood and flesh peppered the sky like an orchestra of death.

Ben turned his face into Jill's leg and hid it.

Leon said, quietly, "Chris…I need you to get to an underground oil rig less than a mile from your position. There are two agents there that need rescued. Sherry Birkin and Jake Mueller. Chris…he's Albert Wesker's son."

The silence was long. Chris finally breathed it back at him, "Wesker!?"

"Yes. Chris…he has antibodies for the C-Virus. We need him alive. At all costs."

Chris replied, softly, "I'm on my way…but Leon…listen…Ada Wong is dead. I did what I could. But…"

Leon held Jill's eyes. She touched his arm with sympathy.

He answered, "Copy that. Hurry, Chris. Hurry."

Chris came back to him, one more time, "I will. I'm enroute. Leon…is she alright?"

Leon was still holding her eyes. "She's alright. I'll get her out of here. I swear it."

"Good. Redfield, out."

Jill gripped his arm now. "I'm sorry about Ada."

Leon wasn't sure how he felt about that. He didn't know what he was feeling. There was the fear that beat in his chest again. There was the knowledge that Chris Redfield was somewhere over the ocean thinking of Jill Valentine.

That they both were.

He held her gaze and said, "He's still in love with you. Tell me you don't know that."

Jill shook her head, looking mildly confused. "Does that matter?"

He didn't answer right away. He scanned her face. She did the same. Her fingers curled around his vest. "Answer me. Why does it matter?"

And he said, "Because we've only known each other a few days. Are we crazy here?"

And there went her heart again. Emphatically, she stated, "Maybe. But does that matter either? I _love_ you."

She shook him in his vest a little as she said, pointedly. Quietly, he answered, "...does that matter either? There's all kinds of love, Jill. Not all of it lasts forever."

Her stomach hurt at the look on his face. What was it? Insecurity. It was fear. It was a lot of everything in a short space of time. It was waking up after being in a dream or something. Was he going to look at her and regret this? Was he going to wonder if what they had was real?

Could she really blame him if he did?

They'd crammed a lifetime into a handful of days. Maybe there was a moment when they'd both have to realize that love like that...it wasn't forever. Had she ever really thought she'd get to keep him?

He wasn't a man you held onto. Was he?

She started to answer and Helena shouted at them. "There's no time for that now! Ok!? Not now! Now we run! HURRY!"

Leon let go of her and they ran for the stairs. They hit the top and were directed into a building. The door was kicked closed by a soldier just as the gas hit the street where they'd stood.

Without pausing, they were directed up a flight of stairs and down a long hallway. Outside, the gas hit the people and they all screamed and fell.

Leon scooped Ben up against him as they ran.

They hit a small passage that would take them out to the back alley and it was filled with the dead.

Ben clung even as Leon let go of him to start shooting.

Gunfire erupted loud and murderous.

The windows in the room they'd just left behind burst from the pressure of the gas beyond them. The soldier's started shouting at them. "GO GO GO!"

Jill raced passed him to drop low and sweep her leg out. She toppled zombies like bowling pins. Helena covered him as he ran passed with Ben clutched around him.

The soldier waved his arm, beckoning.

Leon burst through and took the stairs to the Hummer that waited at the bottom of the rise. He tossed Ben in the back and leaped in the front. Jill and Helena climbed in the back with Ben. The soldier slammed the door, smacked the hood of the Hummer, and the driver took off into the fog.

The soldier driving glanced at him as he plowed over the dead. The fog closed around them like a blanket. "I'll get you to the edge of the city. Once you get there, hit the bricks ok? Don't stop until you're well beyond the perimeter."

Leon nodded, glancing over his shoulder into the back seat. Ben was curled against Jill. Helena was looking out the window. Jill was watching him.

It was a long look.

There was a lot of things in it.

But there was no time for it now. Beyond the windows of the Hummer, people were screaming and dying. Ben started to shake and Jill cuddled him closer to her.

The sound of her musical humming filled the interior of the Hummer.

The soldier driving whispered, "My Mom used to sing that to me to put me to sleep at night."

Helena answered, "Mine too."

Without looking at her, Leon slid his arm around the back of the seat and touched Jill's knee. He squeezed it, just once, and she covered his gloved one with hers to squeeze in return.

His hand retreated and she felt...what? Sad? Yes. Because part of him was retreating from her the same as that hand. And she didn't know how to hold on to him.

Leon watched the fog thin and disappear as the Hummer emerged onto the quiet street. A barricade had been erected from fallen vehicles.

The soldier said, "Get to the towers over there. This is as far as I can get you. There's a helicopter on top of the towers that you could use to get extracted. I gotta go back for my unit."

Ben told the soldier, softly, "Don't be scared, ok? Just don't look back."

The soldier nodded, looking a little teary eyed, "Right. Right. Good luck."

Leon patted his arm and alighted from the Hummer. Helena, Ben, and Jill followed him.

They climbed over the makeshift barricade. The street was quiet. The night was filled with crickets and summer. It was hard to believe that the world was burning behind them.

Leon opened his mouth to offer some kind of encouragement and a horn blew.

He turned his head.

A gas tanker was barreling down the street toward them. There was no one behind the wheel that was living. A zombie was gnashing its teeth in the driver's seat.

They separated. They dove.

The tank missed them by inches. It careened. It spun out of control. And it smashed into the barricade. The tank burst and spilled gas in an acrid wash.

Leon grabbed for Ben. Jill shouted to Helena.

And the gas hit the ticking, smoking hood of the flipped tanker.

There was the sound of ignition. A rush of noise. And the world exploded around them.

Fire licked the sky, the pressure of the blast hit them like a wave. It tossed them up and threw them out like they were nothing. Leon hit the windshield of a car and shattered the glass. He rolled off the hood and hit the ground on his face.

Helena was throw down an alley into a row of trash dumpsters.

Ben went over the car where Leon had landed and burst through a stack of crates to disappear. Jill was ejected like from a burning plane. She went up, she went over. She landed on her face atop a half over turned semi and didn't move.

Leon struggled, gasping. His body said: Nope. And he went back to his face on the dirty pavement.

The gas burned and bled. The buildings and the street caught fire around them.

And his cheek pressed into the cold ground. His head swam. His body throbbed. He courted the dark even as he fought against it. He smelled the fire and heard the screaming…but there was nothing he could do. His body was done.

It dumped him into the dark.

The lights went out like someone had thrown a switch.

And took the rush of the pain and the fear with it.


	20. Chapter 20

**-Combustible, Untrustable, Indestructible-**

* * *

The fire woke him.

It was burning and blistering the earth with its acrid, painful, licking tongue. It left soot and scorch on the pavement around them as it devoured anything in its path. He grunted, head swirling, eyes blinking.

He couldn't feel his left arm, which had him rolling his neck to see why. It was stuck under him and numb. Leon shifted, moaning a little in pain. His eyes blinked in the smoky, wavering air. People were screaming and dying beyond the fire. They fell, they fed the dead, and they tried to flee and failed.

Jesus Christ. He had to…"Get up!" He grunted it and pushed off the ground.

His legs held him, he shook his numb arm and he staggered a little. Where was everyone else?

Afraid, he turned and called out. "Ben?"

"Leon!"

Ben was limping toward him from just beyond the car. He was holding his arm against his body. His face was slick with sweat and smeared with dirt. He was bleeding from a cut above his cheekbone. But he was walking.

Leon knelt and picked him up, holding him against him. "It's ok buddy. It's ok. You ok?"

Ben nodded against his neck and then he whispered, "I can't move my hand."

Concerned, Leon leaned him back. Ben lifted his arm to show him. The wrist was broken, no getting around that. It was swollen and crooked. The god damn kid was a tank. He wasn't even crying. He was pale and shaking.

Leon set him down and jerked off his vest. He unbuttoned his shirt and took it off as well. In his undershirt, Leon knelt to construct a makeshift sling and wrap from the ruined shirt. When Ben was bound and secure, he slipped his vest back on over the short sleeve black undershirt he'd been wearing and picked him up again.

Helena was moving toward them. She was dirty but ok. Jill whistled from atop the truck where she'd fallen. She had a helluva black eye starting but was standing.

It was as good as they were going to get right in that moment.

Leon started to crack a joke and a plane passed above them. It was too close. It was less than a football field above them. Why was it flying so low!?

It didn't matter. There was no time to ask why.

It crashed into the damn skyscraper beside them and ignited. Leon watched it plummet toward them. The horror crashed into the fear and they were running. They were just running.

He tossed Ben up to Jill on the back of the tractor trailer truck and vaulted up after Helena. They started running, for all the good it would do them, and the plane hit the ground where they'd been. The noise was massive. It was enormous. It was deafening.

The plane took the street with it as it came down. It created a sinkhole. All the cars piled up and surrounding began to plummet into the firey abyss it created. They slid, they groaned with a cry of metal, and they caught fire in with a WHOMP of sound.

The world suddenly smelled like gasoline and death.

There was no time to do anything but run. Run. RUN.

The explosion threw cars like popping corn into the air. They struck and screamed with metal and ignited. Engines blew, wheels flew like darts, metallic screeched and pealed. Fire flickered, eating everything in its way.

Ben was moaning in fear against his neck. Helena was making some kind of keen. They leapt from one car to the next like acrobats or stunt men or desperate people just trying to stay ahead of death. Jesus.

Where could they go?

And then a helicopter swirled around and hovered. It waited for them. The soldier inside was swinging his arm, beckoning. "HURRY!"

It looked like a chinook. It was long and open and WAITING.

They ran while the world erupted in metal and fire. A car smashed into another beside them and threw pieces of glass and steel like vomit. Cars kept taking flight as if tossed by playful hands.

Leon slid down the hood of an SUV with Ben stuck to him like a burr. He poured on the speed while Jill and Helena raced in front of him. They all but took flight across a box truck while the fire chased them into the swirling smoke.

When Jill leaped on and turned, he literally threw Ben across the divide to her. He flew like the superhero he was trying to be. She caught him and Leon pushed off the end of the truck like he'd jack rabbit into the air.

The force of the world exploding beneath him sent him careening upward. He missed the entrance of the chopper but grabbed the landing gear beneath. His arms looped around the railing and the zombie grabbing for him took a diving snap at his ankle.

He kicked. Ben screamed.

Jill dropped to her belly and put one right between the gobbling bastard's eyes.

Helena grabbed his wrist and jerked him up into the chopper with them. The chopper pitched and the pilot fell out of his seat. He skidded across the steel floor and tried to fall out into the burning night.

Helena shouted and grabbed for him.

Jill caught Ben and held on to him.

And Leon grabbed for the controls of the chopper.

Jill took one look at him and exclaimed, "You kidding me here!?"

And Helena was shouting. The pilot was trying to eat her face. Ben shouted in fear, Jill turned back to help, and Leon grabbed the throttle.

"I can fly a goddamn chopper!"

Maybe.

Ordinarily.

Under less intense circumstances, clearly.

The chopper was pealing its warning bells all around them. Jill kicked the zombie that had once been the pilot. It dived for her and she went to her back on the floor to avoid it grabbing Ben.

Leon pulled the chopper up from its tailspin. It smashed into a neon sign and threw sparks and fire into the filthy sky. The warning bells indicated the engine was failing. Of course it was. It was ON FIRE.

Helena screamed, "LEON! FOR GOD'S SAKE PULL UP!"

Like it was HIS fault the damn chopper was broken!?

He jerked the chopper up from smashing into the ground and it ducked left, spun, and sideswiped…the train. The fucking train. They all shouted and tumbled. Leon let out a battle cry of fear and whipped the damn thing until they were sparking and squealing and somehow staying up in the air. The train blew its horn, the chopper shuddered and spun out.

And they smashed into a building.

The wall exploded around them. They barreled straight through it and kept on going. The chopper lost its blades, the sides started to peel away like a can opener, and metal screamed. Somehow shouted, "OH MY GOD!"

And they erupted out into the open air again. They were suspended, for what seemed like forever, and then the spinning chopper threw itself right toward the blinking billboard in the center of the open tower. It stuck like a dart with a crash and spark of fire and electricity into the flickering screens with their countless advertisements. And then it trembled.

"Run…RUN!"

He leaped free and bolted toward the back. Helena was already running. Jill had Ben clutched to her and stumbled. The chopper groaned loudly, it tilted. They were suddenly falling instead of running. They were grappling and grabbing on. And the grip was lost.

Helena went first, shouting as she tumbled.

Leon grabbed desperately for Ben and Jill, caught her fingers, and lost her. She slid down and plummeted and he just…he let go and followed her. The world rushed. They tumbled and dropped.

And hit the glass floor two stories beneath.

The glass cracked and spiderwebbed where he fell.

It hurt. No lie there. But he'd survived worse falls. He rolled…and looked through the glass floor beneath them. It was…infested. Zombies. Zombies. And more zombies. If the glass cracked and they fell further…they weren't just dead, they were undead.

Helena and Jill were scrambling. And he looked up. The billboard tower of screens shivered, squealed, and cocked to the side like the leaning tower of Piza. Leon threw himself forward, stumbling, skidding…and sliding.

And the damn chopper whooshed down and missed him by inches. It hit the glass where they'd been and exploded, throwing shards and fire into the sky. He covered his face with his arms and staggered.

He dove and slid.

And silence spilled around them again. Burning and moaning floated up from where the chopper had ended its swan song.

Leon rolled to his back, gasping.

Jill appeared above him, sweaty, filthy, bloody, pale. She said, earnestly, "You are…without a doubt…the most awful fucking driver ever. EVER."

Leon panted and shouted, "The engine was blown! What was I supposed to do!? Fix the damn thing with a rubberband and some gum!? The names KENNEDY not MACGUYER. I did the fucking best I could."

"Yeah? You're supposed to be some kind of legend, Kennedy. I'm thinking you might be the clone instead."

He pursed his lips at her. "...that hurts, Jill. That hurts me deeply. I'm gonna cry."

She laughed a little and offered him a hand up. It was so good to see the humor on her again. He wasn't sure what he thought happened after this. But he needed that humor.

It kept him alive. Their palms caught. He knew they should just get up and get going.

He shifted his other hand to cup her butt as she pulled him up. Her laughter was almost musical. "...pervert."

She adored him.

Ben was somewhere making that barfing sound.

Jill laughed, curled her fingers through his, and jerked him to his feet. He kept his hand on her ass the whole time and she mused, "They also said you're professional, Agent Kennedy. I'm doubting every report I've ever read on you."

"Yeah? What's the reports say about my flirting?"

Her eyes twinkled, "Depends on the source, I think. Hopefully better than your piloting skills."

The floor trembled a little and shook them where they stood.

He stumbled and she held on, watching his face. She touched him and turned him to look at her. She said, grinning, "You're a hundred times hotter than MacGuyer. Just sayin."

And he loved her. That's what the fear was. It was love. In all his life, he'd never loved another person enough to risk losing them if it failed. Loving her was a huge risk. A massive one.

And worth every moment.

He queried, "Hotter than Chris Redfield?"

She laughed, shaking her head at him, "Insecurity looks good on you, Mr. Kennedy. Especially given the fact that I feel like I'm half blind every time I look at you. I think...I'm pretty sure...you're doing just fine there too."

The timing was all wrong. But he didn't care anymore. He just...needed her.

Sighing, he lamented, "...I'm probably wrecking so much because I'm blinded by your ass."

Her brows winged up. Jill shook her head and shoved at his side. "You saying it's so big!?"

"I'm saying it's my mad obsession. Seriously. How am I supposed to focus on anything when I just..." He trailed off. She blinked at him.

"Just what?"

His arm scooped down around her, his hand slapped over her ass, and he dragged her in one armed against him. She was still laughing when he kissed her.

Ben sighed dramatically and glanced at Helena. "Grown ups are gross. Why do you always kiss each other? And why does he keep grabbing her bum? I hate getting spankings. It makes me cry. She's laughing."

Helena chuckled a little, rubbing his hair. "You'll understand some day, buddy. I promise."

Ben watched Jill and Leon a little more. She was half curled against him, half dangling from his grip. Her foot went SWOOP and cocked up at the knee. And then? It got grosser. Because they started doing that horrible thing that grown ups did when they were kissing.

Ben said, "Who wants to suck on someone else's tongue!? GROSS!"

Helena burst out laughing and hugged him. He might be the best kid in the world. Objectively.

She watched them for a minute and sighed. The girl in her loved a good romance. She'd never actually seen a leg do what Jill's was doing outside of a Hollywood movie. But that wasn't even the best part. When they drew apart from each other, still grinning, still laughing a little, it was how they looked at the other. Like the world was perfect. Like it wasn't burning around them. Like maybe the other one knew the answer to what happened to Atlantis or where to find the Loch Ness Monster.

Jill skimmed her thumb over the fine lines at the corner of his eyes. His face. She'd never get tired of looking at it. He was so gross. Filthy. Nasty. And perfect.

She said, "I sure do love you."

And his heart. His fucking heart. It just beat for her.

He grinned a little and said, "Be mine, Jill Valentine."

Oh lord. He was so dumb.

She loved him like she was dying for it.

And she laughed and hugged him.

Ben called to them, over the crackle of fire, "Don't start kissing again! Gross!"

Leon laughed, pressing their foreheads together. He said, chuckling, "I cannot WAIT to be gross with you more later, Jill. Just sayin."

"Oh. Oh lord," She put her mouth to his ear and whispered, "I will be gross all over you later. I promise you that."

"And I am now simultaneously disgusted and turned on. What a day."

And he was still laughing when they opened the door on the far side of the landing and went through it.

The laughter didn't last long. How could it?

They were suddenly no longer alone.

The large monument in the center of the circular room jutted toward the heavens like a sword. It offered the viewer the chance to marvel at the mastery of architecture that had once been this tower where they stood.

But it was lost under the horror…of watching Derek Simmons shamble toward them. He was busted up like a jigsaw puzzle and stumbling. He was bleeding all over the face. His face and chest were split and seeping. But he was alive. And his shape was human again.

How!? How was that even possible!?

What was in this damn virus?!

Jill pushed Ben to Helena, hurriedly. "Get him out of here. Hurry. Hurry."

But it was too late for that.

Far too late.

Helena grabbed him up and started running for the tower across the courtyard.

Simmons staggered and said, "Kennedy….you think you can kill me? I don't die. I can't die. I'm beyond that now."

Leon answered, spitting it between his teeth as the rage ate away the laughter and left him fuming. "Back for more, you son of a bitch? Good. Killing you once wasn't enough anyway. I owe you a thousand deaths for each one you gave me when I was kneeling in her blood. I can't kill you enough for it. Now or ever."

Jill felt something shift hard and fast in her belly. She felt the love for him like fire now and need. She'd known him four days.

She'd been looking for him all her life.

Simmons laughed, gasping around the pain. "I will take her from you. I will laugh while she DIES. That's what love is. It's what kills you…and leaves you in pieces."

"I'm going to leave you in pieces, you ass clown. Quit fucking talking and **COME ON!** "

The shout was so loud it scared her. She jumped. She'd never heard Leon yell like that before. It echoed in the courtyard where they stood beside the tower monument.

Simmons studied him as if he'd finally done something interesting. "All the world on fire and this girl is what it takes to push you beyond your limits? This girl? She's nothing. She's flesh and bones and failure. She's _human_."

Leon shook his head as the wind kicked his hair around his perfect face. "She's _everything_ \- you stupid pathetic bastard. I'd have killed you for Adam alone. For her? I'm gonna make sure there's not even enough left of you to scrape up in a spoon."

How could he ever be worried about Chris? Didn't he realize she felt the same way? Didn't he realize she'd never, ever, ever let him go?

Leon said aside to her," Go. Go after Ben. I got this."

And she answered, "I told you once - I will never leave you."

Jill ranged herself beside him and lifted her gun on Simmons.

The world was suddenly bright all around them. A helicopter floated there, showing a pretty face behind the curved glass of it. Jill felt Leon jerk beside her and murmur, "Ada?!"

Simmons started screaming now. "A-DUHHHH! I KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE! YOU TOOK WESKER'S SON! YOU USED HIS BLOOD TO MAKE THE VIRUS STRONGER! I WILL FUCK YOU WHILE YOU SCREAM AND BLEED AND BEG. I WILL FUCK YOU TO DEATH…YOU BITCH!"

Leon laughed mirthlessly beside Jill. "You won't do anything, you stupid mother fucker, but make peace with whoever might be waiting for you on the other side. Because nobody here is going to mourn you."

The helicopter started firing. And the body of Derek Simmons fell to the ground screaming in a hail of bullets. It shook, it burst with blood, and it EXPLODED.

There was no other word for it. None.

What erupted from within the confines of his flesh was horrible. It was the size of a tyrannosaurus rex. It was bones and muscle and roaring need. And then its horrible face split like a flower in the sun and revealed one massive blood shot eye. It roared its hunger to the heaves and shook the earth when it stomped.

They couldn't do anything but run.

The helicopter fired mercilessly on it while it gave chased, stomping, roaring, swishing its massive tail and knocking anything out of its way. How did they fight something like that!?

They ducked and rolled. They dove and slid. They were fucked. Seriously fucked. Because there was no way to fight something like that. There was no way. Was this Dino Crisis!? There was no way.

And then the world shifted again. And Derek Simmons was sucked back into his mortal form to fall to his knees on the cold stone floor.

Leon was already running. Running.

He felt the world fracture as slide out of place. He tackled the other man. They slid across the ground and Leon reared up, straddling him, holding on. He just started swinging.

He just started shouting. Jill had stopped him the last time he'd done it. She'd stepped over to stop him.

She did nothing now. She waited, breathing.

And she watched Leon Kennedy try to beat the National Security Advisor to death with his fists.

"YOU STUPID MOTHER FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!" He punctuated each word with a subsequent blow to the face. The crunch and thunk and squelch of blood and bone filled the air around them. He grabbed him and smashed him into the ground. He was shaking, he was shouting, he was beating Derek Simmons into the street beneath him while he sounded his battle cry.

He was soaked in blood now. He didn't stop. He couldn't stop. He just kept hitting him. He just kept hitting him and shouting.

And finally Jill grabbed his body. She grabbed him from behind. She curled against his back and held on. And she breathed. "Stop. Please. It's enough. It's enough now. Stop."

Leon panted, harsh and hitching. He dropped the battered body to the street. He was straddling that body in a puddle of blood. His hands were shaking and torn. The knuckles raw. Only the tactical gloves saved them from being ripped to shreds.

He was trembling while she held him.

Jill slid around his front. She knelt over the body of Derek Simmons. She took Leon's face in one steady hand. She held his desperate gaze with her cool one.

"Stop. Stop. Just….stop." And she collapsed against him. He rose, dragging her with him. He gathered her in and held her, shaking, and breathing harsh and fast.

The helicopter lowered, shining that light down on them.

A perfect spotlight to the death of Derek Simmons.


	21. Chapter 21

**-The Things We Think But Do Not Say-**

* * *

He lifted his head over where he held Jill against him, her face buried in his neck.

He met the curious gaze of Ada Wong beyond the curved glass of the chopper. She smirked…and winked…and gestured upwards with her head. And then her chopper lifted up, up, up and headed toward the roof of the tower.

He murmured, "She's headed to the roof."

Jill leaned back, watching his sweating face. No humor now. No laughter. The body of Simmons lay beside them, bleeding and raw. The face was hamburger. And Leon was bathed in his blood.

She intoned, softly, "I guess we better hope the elevator is working then, huh?"

She stepped back and turned toward the building where Helena had run with Ben. It took her a moment to realize he hadn't followed. He was staring up into the sky where Ada Wong's chopper had gone.

Something shifted in her. It was what had shifted when she saw them together in the catacombs. There was more there. There was more to Ada Wong. There was more to all of it.

She'd known him four days.

It was the first time it felt like maybe she didn't know him at all.

She said, softly, "Leon? What is it?"

And he glanced back at her and shook his head, "It's nothing. Nothing. Let's go."

They moved, silently now. She felt the shiver in her belly for him. He'd scared her. His rage was a horrible, beautiful, frightening thing. He'd all but stripped away his humanity and become something dark and hungry down there. The need for revenge had flayed the flesh from his bones and left him naked and feral.

The four of them stood together in the glass enclosure as the elevator zipped up the side of the tower toward the roof. The world burned beneath them, lost in a bathing beauty of red, gold, and flickering orange. Fire consumed. Fire destroyed. It erupted and burped and basted the sky above it as buildings tumbled and burned and collapsed beneath its rage.

Ben was curled against Helena, holding on while the elevator lifted them into the waiting night. Even he hadn't touched Leon since they'd boarded the elevator. Admittedly, he was soaked in blood. He didn't look like someone you hugged.

Jill leaned against the wall, watching Leon.

He stood facing out at the burning world. The building across from them burst and belched fire, imploding and tumbling to the dirt beneath it. It flickered over his face in a bath of shadow and flame. She uncrossed her arms and stepped up beside him.

She'd known him four days. He'd asked her to marry him. He'd brought her back to life. He'd filled her darkness with something tangible and real. She was full of him. He'd stood in the firelight and avenged her. He'd kissed her breathless. He'd stolen her heart and given it back to beat again for him. It was all very consuming.

Like the fire that ate the world.

Their love was something burned and left ashes behind.

And, as she watched his profile stare into the burning night, she knew it was never meant to be that simple. Never. When the day was saved and the battle won…what would be left in him for her? Would he roll to face her in the middle of the night and regret? Would he roll to face her in the middle of the night…and see Ada Wong there beside him?

She'd known him four days.

Could she really hope to keep him forever?

And she knew she had to say it. They had to say it out loud. It was the only way to put it behind them.

She whispered, "You thought she was dead. She isn't dead. She's here. She's here for you."

He turned his gaze to her. His hair slid into one eye, the other studied Jill with a kind of dissection she'd never felt from him. It was cold. And clinical. And calculating. Like she was something he was trying to learn and understand.

He said, quietly, "It doesn't matter, Jill."

And now she laughed, softly, so softly. And pain speared into her chest and stole her breath. "She's more than nothing to you, Leon. She's more than that. Tell me I'm wrong."

He shook his head, holding her gaze. "It doesn't matter, Jill. Don't make it something it isn't."

That wasn't an answer.

A little niggle of fear wormed around in her belly. And she whispered , "You have feelings for her…don't you?"

And now he turned toward her. He put his hand out and Jill took a step back from him. She watched the shock of that echo on his face. "Jill…I'm telling you to leave it alone. You're wrong here."

She shook her head, making a small sound. "I don't think I am. She matters. She matters to you. She matters. Don't stand there and lie to me about it. Don't. Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me she doesn't matter."

He shook his head, "Does any of this matter? There's a lifetime of matters here, Jill. It doesn't change anything about you and I. Give me your hand."

His was soaked in blood. She looked at it. She glanced back at his face. It was Simmons blood on his hands. He'd beat Derek Simmons to death for her. She could damn well hold his hand.

She slid her palm into his and that blood smeared between them.

Jill said, softly, "I don't know if I can compete with a lifetime of regret, Leon."

He opened his mouth and the world exploded around them.

The building beside them erupted in flame and screaming metal. It kicked the elevator they were out to the side to swing like a pendulum over the endless drop to nothing. The glass shattered from the impact, tinkling and tumbling into the dark. The rush of heat from the fire burning in the street beneath them stole the breath and cloyed the lungs.

The elevator swung out in a semi-circle, propelled away from the exploded wall with the force of the blast.

The cable attached to the elevator squealed and threatened to snap. Leon grabbed Ben from Helena and threw him up onto his back. "HOLD ON!"

They had no choice now. No choice.

They all jumped as the elevator cable snapped with a whipping cry of ruptured steel. The elevator plummeted into the hungry fire below. They were all suspended and flying in the air now like mad superheroes. Like fools. Like desperate souls just trying not to tumble into the flames and burn away.

Helena caught the adjacent elevator cable and swung around, clinging for dear life.

Jill hit the roof of the elevator and rolled.

Leon grabbed the cable beneath Helena and held on.

They all dangled. They all breathed.

And the elevator where Jill crouched groaned.

She leaped up, Leon threw a hand down to grab her, and the elevator broke away beneath her with a surrendering squeal of snapping steel.

He grunted and jerked, tossing Jill up in the air like the world's worst game of leapfrog. She grappled for the cable and clung, climbing.

They climbed in gasping desperation.

Hand over hand, foot over foot. The trek was slow and arduous.

Around them, walkways and breezeways collapsed, burned, and tumbled into the abyss. Buildings kept collapsing. The city was burning around them. They had to get out. They had to get away. Or they'd die roasting in the flames.

Helena reached the top first. She put her hands down and pulled Jill up. Jill reached down for Ben. Leon closed the final distance and Helena made a sound of surprise.

"Leon!"

He turned his head over his shoulder. Simmons…Simmons was on the walkway beneath them. He let out a roar and burst from his flesh to become the horrible thing they'd fought on the train. He raced toward the building where they climbed. The monster roared his commitment to Leon's demise with an echo of madness, "KENNNNEDDDDY!"

He made it halfway across the walkway and something amazing happened. He was no longer the only one on it.

Ada Wong swung down from somewhere and dropped. She landed on the walkway in front of Simmons. And she put two bolts right into his charging monsterous face.

Simmons spun out and knocked her away. She rolled and smashed into the wall. She was still and the wind whipped the red of her shirt around her back where she lay on her face.

Simmons reverted to his mortal form and started walking slowly across the skyway toward her.

Leon glanced up above him. Jill stood there in the flicking light. Her face was calm. Her face was empty. But her eyes? They were full of so many things.

She said, softly, "Go. She needs you. It's ok. Go."

He held her gaze. His hair whipped in the wind. And then he pushed off the wall and plummeted to the skyway beneath him.

Ben let out a shout of fear, "Leon!"

Leon landed, rolled, and grabbed Ada. He flipped her over into the curve of his arm. She was breathing but unconscious.

He rolled his shoulders and aimed down the line of his arm as Simmons paced toward them. He shouted, "KENNEDY! GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF HER! YOU AREN'T HALF THE MAN SHE NEEDS!"

Leon urged, gently, "Ada…Ada…this would be a really good time to wake up. Come on. Not like this. This is the least spectacular way to go. Don't let Simmons rob you of a big dramatic death scene here, Wong. WAKE UP!"

"Kennedy! I'm going to shove your head up your ass and fuck you to DEATH with it!"

An interesting image. Leon tried not to laugh. It was the least promising thing anyone had said to him, ever. "Simmons, that's the only fucking you'll probably ever get! You're not getting it from, Ada, I can promise you that. Take hint, guy, she AIN'T INTERESTED!"

He fired into Derek Simmon's stupid face.

The bullet spun him to the side and sent him to his face on the walkway.

Leon jiggled Ada in his arm. "Ada…wake up. Come on now. Wake up. You can't let this be how you die. It's comic. You want to survive Raccoon City to die fucked to death by a mutated dinosaur!? WAKE UP!"

Simmons burst from his flesh into the horrible thing from the train again. He roared, pawing the metal and glass like a bull preparing to charge. He tossed his head and his back split. The bony protrusions extended and started glowing.

And Leon could hear Ben screaming for him.

He rolled his back over, hunkering around Ada. He grabbed a broken piece of metal from the ground beside him and threw it up in front of them like a shield. He covered her and prayed.

The flying pieces of bones smacked into the metal, squealing, sparking. The world was loud like a storm on a tin roof. Leon ducked his face down to take shelter from it.

And he realized Ada was awake.

She watched him from inches away.

She said, softly, "I was just resting my eyes."

He answered, quietly, holding their shield against the assault beyond them. "Helluva time to take a nap."

Ada smirked a little and lifted her hand. She touched his face. And there was something there that shivered between them. She said, "You protected me."

"I have a tendency to save the girl."

"You do…big hero." He had a second to move away…and he didn't. She curled her fingers into his vest and drew him down. She kissed him, softly, eyes open. He let her, watching her with curious eyes. He didn't kiss her back. But he didn't stop her either.

Ada, smirked, and said, "My hero."

The assault was over. The world was quiet again.

Leon let her go and she rolled to her feet.

They turned back to face Simmons together.

Simmons barreled toward them, roaring.

They split apart and started firing on him. He ducked, he rolled, he reversed and pawed the ground. He raced. He roared.

Leon's magnum ran dry and he holstered it, spilling his knife into his hand.

Ada leaped and rolled, missing a swipe from SImmon's brutal claws. She laughed a little and grabbed Leon's hand to jerk him out of the stampede that followed.

"You tell her about me!?"Ada shouted about the roar of Simmons rage.

Leon shook his head and laughed. "Not really the time for that, is it?"

"Why not? Could be dead any minute! No time better!"

Simmons spilled back into his human form as she dispatched a bolt from her crossbow right into his roaring face. He spun out as he went down and tossed the two of them around like toys.

Ada went up and out to slide along the ground.

Leon was tossed right off the walkway. He grabbed for the ledge and clung.

Simmons emerged above him, laughing. He could hear Ben screaming in the distance. Leon started to climb up and Simmons stepped on his fingers, grinding with his booted foot.

Leon cried out, clinging. The pain shot from fingers to elbows to shoulders.

"Kennedy…you fool. You coward. She is mine. I will watch you scream while you die."

Leon ground out between his teeth, spitting the words at him. "You first…you fucking disgrace."

"Do you want to live? Do you?" Simmons ground his fingers harder and Leon couldn't stop the shout of pain. "Then BEG! BEG, YOU BASTARD, BEG FOR YOUR LIFE!"

He kicked one of Leon's hands so hard it was thrown off the ledge. Leon dangled by one hand now. So, this is how he went down, plummeting into the flames courtesy of the man who'd fucked up his whole world. Some hero.

And Leon spit at him, "I think I'll pass. Simmons? Blow it out your ass."

"THEN DIE LIKE THE FOOL THAT YOU ARE!"

He lifted his boot to kick Leon's final grip away.

And Ada was suddenly there. She laughed, loud and bright. "You always were a fucking idiot, Simmons. Haven't you figured it out yet? The Rolling Stones said it best…" She drove the bolt in her hand into his side and gripped it like a handle. He roared, gasping and jerking in her grasp. She wrapped her hand in his belt and grinned, "You can't always get what you want. Let's call this closure. You really should learn to move on when a lady says no."

And she leapt.

She leaped off the walkway and let go of Simmons.

He plummeted, shrieking, spinning, end over end into the flames below.

Ada followed him, rushing.

And then she fired off the grapple gun in her hand. It hissed and whizzed and whisked her to the other side of the abyss.

She rolled through the landing and turned back to face him as he climbed up onto the walkway.

They stared at each other in the flickering shadows of the world on fire.

He murmured, quietly, "What are you? Why are you helping me?"

His communicator jingled, surprising him. He lifted it, flicking open the screen. He read it while he watched her across the firey street.

Leon – Love to stay longer. But duty calls. I've left you a little parting gift on the roof. Try not to crash this one, won't you? Who will be my white knight if you die because you can't drive worth a damn? If you ever tire of playing house with the girl and the kid, you know where to find me. See you down the road.

He shouted across the divide at her. "Ada!"

But she was already saucily walking away into the shadows. She blew him a kiss and was gone.

Leon shook his head. He glanced up the long length of the building.

Jill stood in the shivering wind, watching him. She whispered, quietly, "What are you waiting for? Go after her."

And it broke her heart to say it. She wondered if he could hear it somehow…on the wind.

He didn't. He hurried back toward the building and climbed up the cable.

Ben pulled him up and threw himself into his arms. He was shaking and clinging. He was so scared. He whispered, "You p'omised your Mom you'd save girls. You p'omised."

Leon held on, stroking his hair. "Yeah, I did. I promised."

"….I wish you'd lied."

Leon felt his heart stutter. "Ben…buddy. I'm ok. I'm alright."

"You almost died." Ben sniffled a little. "You almost died. If you die…." And now his little voice was so, so, so quiet. Leon almost couldn't hear him when he breathed, "…If you die, Leon….who will help me take care of Ben the Bear?"

Leon rose, holding him so tight it made the boy squirm a little. But not to get away…to get closer. And he put his face against that little neck and breathed him in.

"I promised I wouldn't die on you. Remember?"

Ben made a small nod.

"Don't I always keep my promises?"

And now Ben sniffled again. "You do…don't forget ok? Don't forget."

"I won't ever forget, pal. I swear."

They picked their way through the rubble of what was left of the building. They moved together up the small staircase that would take them to the roof. Ben clung, keeping his bad arm clear of too much pressure.

Leon didn't like Jill's silence. It was ripe with something that scared him. He glanced at her profile as they moved. She kept looking forward. Ben had fallen asleep in his arms.

He said, "Ben's wrist is broken. We need to get some place fairly quick to set it."

Jill nodded as they exited the fire escape and emerged onto the roof. The rain was kicking up again. The wind swirled like mad here.

It tossed her hair around like a blonde storm.

It tossed his as well. And Helena laughed a little. "Jesus. Talk about wind! Nothing like a skyscraper to remind you wind is worse at high altitudes."

She glanced between their faces and pursed her lips. Sensing the need for a little alone time there, she took Ben in her arms and moved toward the chopper that waited on the helipad across the roof. Clearly, Ada had left them an escape route.

Bless her.

Helena liked Ada. She was rad. And she was always a step ahead of them.

She got the impression Jill did NOT like Ada. Who could blame her? The other woman looked at Leon like he was something to eat. Admittedly, that was to be expected. Leon was scrumptious. That hair. That face. And the body? Seriously?

Coughing, Helena smirked at herself and rested the sleeping Ben in her lap on the chopper, waiting.

The rain peppered their faces as they walked.

A rumble of thunder echoed in the distance.

Leon grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Look at me."

She didn't. She looked forward. She watched the inky clouds swirl and roll on the horizon. Lightning flickered between them, offering light amongst the dark.

The rain picked up, turning to a smooth drizzle.

"God damnit, Jill, I said look at me!" And now he spun her back to face him. His voice was so angry. It was echoed on his face.

She didn't look angry. She looked sad. And he hated it.

"What do you want me to say here? Huh? What? Tell me, I'll say it!"

Jill shook her head and tugged her arm away. "There's no need. You don't owe me an explanation here , Leon. You've been incredibly honest about her from the start. You said you chased her around for years. I get it. She's not just some lay. She matters. I get it."

Leon darted his eyes over her face. "Like Chris matters?"

Oh.

Thunder rumbled again. It grumbled like an angry old man.

Jill lifted he brows at him. "What?"

"He grabbed you back there. Let's not play games here. You might be done, but him? He ain't done, honey. He's in love with you. Still. Tell me you don't see that."

Jill studied his face and something fluttered in her belly. She liked it, she realized. She liked him jealous. It warmed her blood.

"So what? That's his problem. He's my best friend. That's it. That's all. I never lied about him. And I can't be blamed for what he's feeling. You can't punish me for that. It's not fair."

Leon tilted his head, studying her. The rain was now a steady downpour.

He shot a hand through his hair, pushing it off his face. And her belly trembled. You thought it was the hair when you first met him. It wasn't. The hair was a smoke screen. It was a blind. It was a red herring. It was the FACE. His face. He was painfully gorgeous. Would she ever tire of looking at him?

"Why not? You clearly do, about Ada."

Jill shifted, shaking her head. "No. It's not the same. Not even close. I'm over Chris. I have been for a long time. I'm not still harboring feelings for him. Can you stand there and say the same?"

He studied her in the rain. She didn't even look mad. Just calm. She waited.

And he'd waited too long to answer.

He watched the pain of it shoot across her face and kill them both.

But she was _wrong._ He just didn't have the words to tell her why.


	22. Chapter 22

**-Crumbling Beneath Us-**

* * *

How did you explain it to someone like Jill Valentine? She was a woman who'd love a boy and lost him along with years of her life. She'd survived what would have leveled other people. She'd lost her world, her mind, her child, her partner, her love.

She was _still here_. And she was still chasing happiness like she'd never give up.

How did he explain the emptiness that rolled inside him that was Ada Wong? How did he explain that what he couldn't bury under booze, he burned away with chasing a woman who'd never give him what he needed to be happy. Jill was running toward her future -and all he knew was how to run from his past.

Her face was so heart broken. Her voice cracked as she exclaimed, "Yeah. See? Not the same, Leon. Not even close. It's ok. Seriously? I get it." She started walking again. "I get it. We've been together what? Four days? It's ok. You've been chasing Ada Wong for years. Hard to compete with that."

He watched her move, breathing low and slow. Maybe he'd been wrong all along. Maybe he didn't deserve her. Maybe he should just let her go. Maybe he should let her go back to Chris Redfield.

He felt vaguely like he might find that muscled mountain of a man and knock his fucking teeth down his throat. Why? For loving Jill Valentine?

Sure. Yeah. A little. There it was. Jealousy. Because Chris Redfield had gotten to her first. When? Back on the catwalk?

Yeah. Sure. A little.

And in life. He'd gotten to her first...in life. There it was. Unreasonable. Unrelenting. Unavoidable. Jealousy. It might have been amusing if it wasn't peppered with fear that she was trying to pull the plug on him here.

The man with all the words? He didn't have them right now. His brain was trying to find _anything_ to get her to halt the horrible truth she was spewing.

But he felt frozen.

And she finished, softly, "So, we just admit what's happening here. The adrenaline eases back and the rose colored glasses come off. Who were we kidding? Getting married, raising a kid together…after four days? Stupid right? Romantic notion brought on by the rush and thrill of each other and the race to survive. You don't have to hold up your end of any of it. Ok? You're off the hook. No hard feelings."

She felt like she might vomit.

It hurt.

It hurt her to say these things.

But she didn't want him to think he was stuck with her. Or that he owed her anything.

She didn't want that.

Chris had stuck with her long after things were done there. They'd tried so hard to make it work. It didn't work. And maybe she was afraid of that here, with Leon. That he'd roll over and look at her and regret that he hadn't gone after Ada Wong.

She didn't think she'd survive it if he did that.

Better to cut the tie now and save the pain later.

Right?

She was aware that someone was hitching out hard breaths. Someone was breathing too fast. It was her. Of course, it was her. She was killing herself here.

"Here's your out, right? I can't compete with years of chasing her. I can't offer you anything like that. And, god forbid, you strap yourself to me and regret it. I don't think I could stand it if you did. So, it's ok. It's fine. Follow Ada and see where it leads. Take her bungie jumping and break…break some lamps…and…take a bath…I bet she plays piano…I bet she's good at it too…I bet…I….bet she could probably teach you how to drive too…you know? Maybe….you could change her tire wrong…and…just…" Shit. She trailed off and put her hand to her face. She breathed and tried to get it together. Her verbal diarrhea was going to kill them both.

Thunder rumbled over the burning city. It wasn't the only thing here going up in flames.

Quietly, finally, he breathed, "...shut up, Jill. Just...shut up."

Hoarsely, she returned, "...I don't want to be another thing you regret, Leon. I don't think I could stand it."

He shook his head, "-don't."

Don't what? It was mercy right? To stop them both from a huge mistake? It was mercy. Surely.

She started to finish it. She started to put the nail in their coffin and say goodbye…and the building shook beneath her feet. She stumbled.

Leon staggered.

And Derek Simmons kicked open the gate to Leon's left and emerged, staggering.

He wasn't alone. He had a hoard of zombies shambling and staggering around him. He went to his knees and tentacles exploded from his smoking, stinking, charred flesh. He was suddenly thick with them, surrounded by them, and one with them.

One shot right for Jill and she ducked. But she didn't need to.

Because Leon stuck his arm up and took the hit for her.

The sound echoed. It was as loud as the thunder. The tentacle slapped his forearm as Jill ducked and scurried. Her heart thundered behind her ribs.

Leon turned and aimed down the line of his arm.

"You won't ever touch her again. Do you hear me? Enough is enough, you stupid son of a bitch. This ends now. Jill, get to the chopper."

He didn't even mimic a Schwarzenegger voice when he said it.

That's how far down the rabbit hole they'd fallen.

Before he could fire, the tentacles shot out like the legs of a crab. They struck into the dead bodies that rolled around him and jerked the zombies back toward where Simmons crouched and grunted. There was the wet pop and crunch of bone as the thing that was Derek Simmons split open…and sucked the squirming zombie down into it. It…ate the zombie.

Leon murmured, disgusted, "Talk about having your meat raw. Jesus Christ. Zombie carpaccio."

He lifted the gun again and clenched his jaw. "Enjoy your last meal, you piece of shit. I hope you choke on it."

And he shot Simmons right between the eyes.

The thing gasped and gurgled…and went still. The zombies converged on it now, moaning. In horror, Jill watched them begin to munch and crunch on the thing that had once been one of the President's best friends.

He started screaming while they dined.

It was horrible.

Leon didn't look away. He watched. And the poetic justice wasn't lost on him. Eaten alive by his own creations. A fitting Dr. Moreau moment.

And then Jill grabbed his arm and jerked. They started running toward the chopper. Of course she hadn't run on and left him. Of course not.

They hit the gate and burst through the other side and pounded up the stairs. The roof spilled them out onto a narrow walkway. They ran for it as the rain started to whip into a storm.

Jill leaped up onto the helipad and turned back to offer him a hand up.

The world fractured. It tilted.

And something rose from the place where Simmons had been turned into zombie kibble. It was a massive bug. A fly? It had two big fat eyes in shiny red and two fluttering, flapping , scaley wings. It had four legs with gleaming sharp talons on the end and a body that looked covered in a steely carapace.

And it took flight behind them.

Jill couldn't do anything as it spit.

It spit from its disgusting mouth.

The wad of goop steamed as it flew. It was as big as a man. It was slick and disgusting and heavy. It split the sky and smashed into the walkway where Leon was trying to climb up.

He staggered.

Jill screamed and grabbed for him.

Her hand passed over his and missed.

And he tumbled backward into the waiting dark.

Her world fell apart in the time it took her to reach where he'd fallen. She regretted every moment she'd spent trying to set him free. She regretted every second she'd wasted trying to be mature and responsible and calm.

And she just wanted to take it all back and hold him.

She finally understood what Chris must have felt to watch her go through that window and tumble to her death. She finally understood that sometimes, sometimes, sometimes...you couldn't save them. Sometimes...they just slipped right through your hands.

She skidded on her belly, heart hammering.

Jill was so afraid she was going to lean over the roof and see his beautiful body splattered into nothing on the ground below.

But she didn't see that. She didn't see that at all.

Because, apparently, fate was going to let her love him...just a little longer.

And he was there.

 _ **HE WAS THERE.**_

In the little bucket window washer's used to clean the whole building where they stood. He'd fallen right into it. Jill wanted to weep and throw up simultaneously.

"Leon!"

He laughed, filthy and incredible, "...my hero!"

She put her hands down and he took two running steps and leaped, grabbing on to her. The fly landed on the cart at the exact moment he leapt and it was torn away in a scream of metal. Leon scrambled up and there was no time for anything but running.

They booked it toward the chopper and the only chance of escape.

Zombies were everywhere now. All over the place.

One grabbed for her and Leon spun back and roundhouse kicked it. It went over the roof and tumbled into the dark. She grabbed his hand and tugged him into the run of their life beside her.

And they weren't going to make it.

Because the fly that was Simmons landed on the roof, shook it like he'd send them all scrambling down to die, and started stomping with his four massive legs. He stomped while they scattered. He stomped zombies and ate them.

He squealed and screeched and sent them tumbling.

He drove one leg into the ground an inch from Leon. And Leon decided enough was enough. ENOUGH.

He jumped and grabbed the spindly joint. He vaulted up on that massive leg. The fly reared and tried to shake him loose. But he scaled that bug like it was the Silverback Mountains. He reached the head and staggered as it tried to throw him off.

And he shouted, "SIMMONS! It's fitting that you're a fly now. You know why? Because flies are stupid. Flies are a nuisance. And flies? They _**EAT SHIT**_!"

It felt really good to throw bad dialogue down. It felt like being Leon Kennedy. It felt like fucking a hot girl and drinking a latte and coming while he smoked a cigarette. It felt like living.

It felt like being with Jill Valentine.

Like being _alive_.

And it felt almost as good as rearing back and driving his knife into one glittering red eye.

The eye burst like a water balloon. And Simmons screeched in horror and pain.

Leon shifted, holding on, and popped the other eye with glee.

The bug reared up and then flattened out, shaking the roof like a 9.5 on the richter scale. It dropped down and went still…until it shot out one of those horrible tentacles and speared it through a zombie. It brought it back, it split open, and it swallowed the damn thing down like a pill.

Jill shouted, " _He's using them to heal! He's regenerating!_!"

Of course, he was. Of course. Everything in their world came back at least eight times to try again to kill them.

Leon popped the eye that tried to emerge from the empty cavity. The socket shivered in pain. And Jill became a goddess of battle. She became Athena. She began killing like nothing he'd ever seen. She slayed. She destroyed.

And he got hard just watching her go.

She was beautiful in battle. She was beautiful.

Didn't she understand what she was to him?

Apparently, not.

He stabbed another budding eye.

The bug screeched again.

They couldn't do this all night. No way. Thunder rumbled and Helena whistled from up above them. She was holding some kind of spear in her hands? She was holding something. And standing next to one of the broken crates that lined the roof.

She said, "It's a lightning rod! _A lightning rod_! You hear me, Kennedy?! Stick this in his mother fucking ass and LIGHT THAT SON OF A BITCH ON FIRE!"

She tossed it down.

It was as long as a man and heavy. He staggered but caught it.

And he turned back to the cavity that was trying to fill with another eye. He reared back and shouted above the pouring rain. "Simmons, you son of a bitch, I'm sick of killing you. This time? You're _EXTERMINATED_!"

And that felt good too. It felt great.

He drove the lightning rod into that empty eye socket and leaped down.

He rolled, staggered a little, and tackled the last zombie on the roof with them. He pushed it to the edge and hip kicked it over into the glistening dark.

Lightning licked the sky. It begged for a place to strike. And it found its mark.

Leon turned back. Jill stepped up beside him.

And his hand slid down and gripped hers.

Maybe it wasn't a walk in a sleepy little hamlet. Maybe it wasn't bungie jumping or lying in a bathtub and laughing...but it was pretty fucking good anyway. And he'd have traded every other moment in the world, every walk in Paris, every trip up the Silverback, every girl he'd ever fucked and every ass he'd ever kicked and every moment he'd ever spent searching for something to make him feel like she did. He'd trade them all...for one more with her.

The lightning zigged. The lightning zagged. It painted the sky white where it streaked. And it arrowed down to touch that rod. There was a pop of electricity. A burst of crackling sound.

Leon murmured, "Hey, Ray...that's what happens -"

Jill Valentine interrupted him...and finished his sentence, "...when you cross the streams."

And Jill Valentine made a _Ghostbusters_ joke while she stood beside him and watched the lightning strike.

And Jill Valentine stole his soul.

The lightning crackled, the world burst, and Derek Simmons ERUPTED in flames.

The bug was suddenly brighter than the sun. The whole world was burning.

They backed up while it burned and ran.

They raced up the stairs and Helena was strapping in again. She went to make sure Ben was still sleeping….and he was gone.

Jill glanced at Leon while they ran. "Tell me you won't wreck this one!"

And there was no time to answer.

Simmons, burning like the heat of a thousand pits of hell, took to the sky to destroy them. He was unkillable. He was unstoppable. They were fucked.

He smashed onto the roof. He tried to topple the whole damn building. He staggered his massive legs and lifted one above his head where the lightning rod still waited for another burst of electrical death. He was going to smash the chopper, and trap them here to die.

And a tiny voice shouted, "SHOO FLY! DON'T BOTHER ME!"

There was a WHOOSH of sound from behind them.

Leon spun. Jill gasped.

And Ben went to his ass on the roof. The empty launcher in his hands fell to the helipad with a clunk of metal.

Helena started laughing.

And the RPG hit Simmons in his burning face.

Apparently, he was killable after all.

He turned into pink mist and chunks. He obliterated in midair. He became nothing but trickling flame and smoke in the pouring rain.

The noise was awesome. It was deafening.

Jill dropped to her knees and gathered in the little boy against her to protect him from the eruption.

Leon raced to the edge of the helipad and the mortal body of Simmons plummeted, twisting and tumbling into the fire below. He screamed in rage and the monument in the courtyard broke his fall. He was speared through the middle by the jutting tip of the beautiful silver tower. It impaled him, cracked his spine in half, and drove right into his heart. It burst out the other side in a spray of blood.

The body slumped, the spine snapping, and the blood poured out of him and down the silver sides.

Simmons shuddered and his face split…to show the naked skull beneath.

And then he was still, staring sightless into the stormy sky.

Leon watched it happen. And his eyes told him what lay beneath the monument. At this distance, looking down like a hawk circling its prey, he could finally see what you couldn't from the ground. The symbol beneath the monument...he'd been seeing it his whole life. It was…a familiar symbol. The blood of Derek Simmons spilled outward. It spread across the base of the monument where he died….and it did so in the shape of the insignia for the long dead Umbrella Corporation.

The poetic justice wasn't lost on him.

Leon felt the roll of it in his fucking soul.

Helena stepped up beside him, staring down into the smoky night.

She spit and it tumbled and landed on that dead body. She whispered, "That's for Debra, you fucking bastard. I hope you rot in hell."

The world erupted and took the body of Derek Simmons with it in a geyser of flame and death.

They both stood there and mourned those lost to his madness. They mourned the people they'd avenged and the infected that couldn't be saved. And they mourned what they'd sacrificed to finally end it.

And it was somehow ok. It was ok. It would finally be ok.

Somehow.

Leon patted her shoulder and turned back. "Let's blow this popsicle stand, kid."

She nodded and rushed to buckle in. Jill was already strapping Ben in beside Helena.

She looked over her shoulder at him while he stared off into the flickering darkness. Was he looking for Ada Wong?

Was he looking for the truth?

What was he seeking in the glistening dark?

She'd been looking for him all her life.

They climbed into the front seats and buckled up. Leon lifted the chopper easily. And he didn't wreck it once. Proving, of course, all previous theories about his driving, utterly and completely false.

The rain pounded at them in their glass bubbles as they zipped across the sky.

They flew across the tumultuous clouds for some time before the silence was broken. Ben was snoring in the back. Helena had fallen asleep cuddling him close to her.

Only Leon and Jill remained awake, watchful, and alert.

She shifted in her seat and lifted her palm.

In it, a tiny white compact sat. An ornate little butterfly graced the plastic top. She didn't look at him. She couldn't. Not yet.

Leon glanced at it and then back at the dark sky. "What?"

Jill said, tonelessly, "It's Ada's. You know that."

He glanced at her again. "Alright."

Jill waited. He said nothing else.

She finally asked, "Do you want me to open it?"

"Sure. Knock yourself out."

Annoyed, Jill popped the top of the compact. The fake makeup inside lifted and showed a tiny chip beneath it. Jill glanced at his face.

He was still staring out the curvy glass.

She took the chip and put out her hand. And he didn't even look over as he put his communicator in it. She inserted the chip and the screen lit up.

And she breathed, shocked. "Leon…it's….everything on Simmons. Everything."

"Which means it will prove his guilt and Helena's innocence."

Jill touched his arm without thinking about it. "And yours."

He shrugged a shoulder, watching lightning streak across the sky. "I don't need it."

Jill let go of his arm. She leaned away, watching the moon poke through the clouds.

They said nothing even as he touched the chopper down on the helipad Hunnigan directed them to in Beijing. Jill leaped out first as the blades stopped spinning.

The rain was cool on her hot face.

Was it over? Finally? Was it done?

She skimmed her hands over her tired face and turned to look at Leon as he climbed out the other side. The rain was making love to that face. Who could blame it? She was envious of it. With the hair slicked back by his hands, the face took your breath away.

Jill checked in with HQ to ask after Chris. He hadn't yet come back from the recovery mission with Sherry and Jake.

She turned back to the chopper to gather up Ben and Leon's voice stopped her.

"I was thinking of retiring…that day in the café when you found me…I was thinking of hanging up my gun and giving up the fight."

She turned back to face him.

He shrugged a little and slicked his hair back again. "Yeah. Me right? Me. What would I do without the fight? We said that, didn't we? We said it was the rush that kept us alive. Ada…she's that rush. She's like heroin. I could probably chase her around and get a fix. She's beautiful and deadly and like a punch of adrenaline to touch. Like petting a tiger. You know you'll lose a hand, but you risk it anyway."

Jill shook her head and covered her mouth with her hand. "You…you don't have to explain…it's ok…here. Just…here." She offered him the compact. "Go find her. It's ok."

Frustrated, he shook his head. "No...that's not...that's not what I'm trying to say. I'm fucking this up."

She smiled a little sadly, "I don't know that there's an easy way to dump someone, Leon. Just give it your best shot here."

Fuck.

She was wrong.

Didn't she see that? She was so fucking wrong here.

So, he tried again. And he'd keep trying until she figured it out. "Chasing her is empty, Jill. It's empty. It's a hit that takes the edge away. It's a high that lasts a minute and leaves you worse than when you started. It's not real. And it's not lasting."

She started to move and he lifted a hand, halting her. "Just...listen...just...wait..."

She stopped, watching him. Didn't he know she could watch him all day? Every day? Always.

They held gazes now.

Lighting kissed the sky and flickered in his eyes. And he was suddenly the man with everything to lose.


	23. Chapter 23

**-No Hope Left-**

* * *

He had everything to lose.

And he'd risk it all if she just...stopped.

His tone was nearly painfully desperate, "Looking at you is like adrenaline in the heart that never ends. It's…guts and blood and glory and fucking with the lights on. It's…watching your face while I slide inside of you and the music in my head that won't go away every time I look at you. It's kneeling in your blood and pumping on your chest a thousand times…a million times…because I can't let you go. Because I can't stop. And I can't live without you."

Her heart was knocking so hard it hurt.

He took a step toward her. The rain slid down that perfect face while he said, "I need you, Jill. In all caps. The moment you sat down at that table, I knew you were it. You were what was missing. You and that boy behind you. That's what comes after the fight. That's what's worth fighting for. It's the rush that never ends. I'm in love with you. Totally. Completely. If Chris…if he's still in there…if he's anywhere in there…tell me now and I'll get out of the way. But tell me now, Jill, because I meant what I said. Four days? I didn't need four fucking days. I loved you after four fucking minutes."

Jesus Christ.

She loved him.

It fairly killed her where she stood.

"Forget Ada Wong. Fuck Ada Wong. She's nothing. A shadow. You eclipsed her the moment you stepped into that sleepy hamlet and said my name. I'm all in, baby. All in. Say yes. And let me spend the rest of my life showing you."

Her heart. It hurt. It ached.

It bled.

And it beat for him.

He'd made sure of that.

"In our business that could be a day. It could be a minute. It could be forever. It's a gamble, Jill, a big one. And it might not pay off. I might die on you. I might do that. But I will _never_ give up on you. I will never choose anything in the world over you. Pick me. Choose me. Love me back. And I won't ever let you down."

Did he think she needed a big speech? Did he think she needed anything else in the world but him? Who was he convincing here? Her?

Himself?

Or their past?

Maybe all of it.

But none of it, any of it, mattered. She couldn't think of anything else in the world she wanted more than him, that boy between them, and that life he'd promised her.

She opened her mouth to answer and the roof was suddenly full of bodies. People began to pour in from all angles. Medics and agents and well-meaning workers.

They were poked and prodded and checked on. They were debriefed and treated and fed.

There was no time for anything else.

And the circus didn't stop until she checked into the hotel the DSO set up for them. She bathed Ben with a little bag on his casted wrist to protect it from water and put him to bed. She held him in the semidarkness and stared at the shadows on the ceiling.

A small knock on her door had Jill rolling to her feet and opening it quietly.

Helena stood on the other side, shifting in sleeping pants and a pink tank top. "It's stupid not to want to sleep alone right? That would be stupid. We're totally safe now. Safe. And yet…" Helena lifted her palms and shrugged.

Jill opened the door and let her in without another word.

They talked. They laughed. They cried.

They healed.

And Helena Harper became her best friend. It seemed she had more than one. It seemed she could never have enough.

Helena fell asleep on Ben's other side, spooned against his back with him cuddled against her front like a teddy bear. Ben the Bear was snuggled against his front, looking ragged and sad from being stuffed in his little backpack the whole time they'd been running for their lives but oddly happy.

Jill slid from the bed and padded into the softly lit hallway.

She walked right out of the hotel into the rainy night.

And she came back with the only thing that mattered.

She wore plaid sleeping shorts and a white undershirt. Her breasts swayed beneath the ribbed material as she moved down the ugly carpet. She stopped by Room 216 and lifted a hand to knock.

And then she changed her mind.

She didn't knock at all.

Leon was at the small desk by the bed of his room. He rubbed his tired eyes behind the little gold glasses he wore. He was working on the report for the incident. It was a mess. The whole DSO was a mess. He had weeks and weeks and weeks of ironing out the wrinkles ahead of him.

The Vice President had been sworn in immediately but things were still fucked up like a football bat.

They needed a new Vice President. They needed a new head for the DSO. He knew where that hammer fell. He knew it meant he was stuck. He was in. He was it. It was his baby, after all, and he needed to fix it.

There was no retirement for Leon Kennedy. Not today.

He slid the little glasses down his nose and pinched the bridge, staving off the headache brewing.

He almost pissed his pants when a voice said, "The moment I saw you, sitting in the sunlight, smoking and people watching…I thought…I'd never seen anything so perfect before in my entire life."

He dropped his hand and swiveled the chair around to face her.

And she was proven wrong.

Because there was something more perfect after all. It was Leon Kennedy in little gold reading glasses and sleeping pants without a shirt. It was Leon Kennedy still damp from a shower.

She pushed on, feeling her heart race. She had her hands behind her back. It pulled that shirt tight across her breasts. It made him hard just sitting there looking at her. "I was wrong. So wrong. Because it wasn't that face. Not really. Although it takes my breath away…" She shifted toward him and he rose, closing the distance like a predator, "It was the laughter. The laughter, Leon. Four days? I didn't need it either. I didn't need four minutes. The first time you opened your mouth, I knew you were the only thing I'd ever wanted. Ever. And I'd been waiting my entire life to find you."

He was nearly to her now.

But she stopped him. Because she pulled her arms from behind her back.

And she had a little box in them.

A little box...with a pie. An apple pie.

She whispered, "I didn't bake it. Clearly. I...went out to a grocery store at 2 a.m. and bought you a pie. Because you should have pie, Leon. You should."

He was so still, watching her, "I should have pie?"

"Yes. Lots of pie. And a woman that makes it with you. Not FOR you, you pig...but WITH you."

And now he smirked a little. "Should I?"

"Yes. Pie. And...soccer practice. And love."

He shook his head and started to pull off his glasses but she caught his wrists to stop him. "Leave them. Please."

And he loved her. He loved her. And her pie.

She whispered, "But…you…you should have children, Leon. Lots of children. I can't…I can't give them to you. I probably can't. Be sure...before you agree. Be sure. Because you should have lots of children. I know you don't think they like you...but they do. They love you. How could they not love you? What if...what if you never have a child that looks like you? Your face...I'm stupid. I'm being stupid. I can't give you babies...just pie...just...be sure, Leon. Really think about it. Ok? Just..."

And now he set the glasses down on the small nightstand by the bed. He speared his fingers through his hair. It pulled the muscles in his arms tight from chest to fingers. Her mouth watered.

"Jill?"

"Hmm?"

"Put down the pie."

"What?"

"Put the pie down. Now."

Oh. She put the pie on the desk. She trembled.

"I should go, Leon, and let you think. Just...think about it ok?"

"I don't need to think about it."

He shook his head. He gripped the hem of her undershirt and tugged it over her head. His arm looped around her back and he hitched her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist as their naked torsos merged, and stole her breath.

His hands shifted, slid up her back, and angled her face down to him. He didn't even flinch at holding her around him. He rubbed her nipples against him and brought both of their breathing heavy with it. "Jill…shut up. Give me your pie. And say yes."

She shivered and twisted her fingers in his hair, "….yes."

He turned and spilled her back on the bed. She gasped and kicked her legs as he jerked her shorts down her body.

She hooked her ankles behind his ass and spilled him forward atop her.

They rolled and she pinned him, hands above his head, mouth on his. She robbed his brains out his ass and left him spinning.

And she took his body before he could stop dying for her.

She rode, fast and wet and hard. He loved her, truly and madly and deeply. He was a pop song. And a romance novel. And an episode of Grey's Anatomy. He was nuts for her.

She was kissing him while the train rushed down the tunnel. She was the thing that anchored him. The thing that healed him. The thing that offered him hope. She was school plays and baseball games and laughter.

She was laughter.

And he didn't know how in the hell he'd ever existed without her.

He rose up and loved her while she gasped and died above him.

He'd known her for four days.

And on the fifth day, he married her.

* * *

 **Washington D.C. 2014**

* * *

He was late.

LATE.

She was going to kill him. She was going to flay the flesh from his bones and kill him.

He rushed, breathing fast and hard. The right hand of the President was scared. He was nervous.

The door opened beneath his hand as she pushed and hurried into the room.

The action was just starting.

But it wasn't Hunters. It wasn't zombies.

It was just kids.

The lights went down, and the show began.

"FOUR SCORNS AND SEVENTY YEARS AGOS…" It was Ben with a big top hat on and a beard that made him look adorable. Ben, as Abe Lincoln, "Our Dad's brought forth on this consonants, a new nation, conceebed in Liberty, and dedicated to the prop…the…proper…THE proposing symptoms that all men are created equals…"

His heart swelled three sizes too big.

Leon leaned on the door in the shadows and felt alive.

Ben eyed him in the dark auditorium and grinned, huge and happy. He waved, "HEY DAD! HI!" And he totally broke character.

Which was completely fine in a Kindergarten play.

The theater laughed around him, charmed. And Ben said, "My Dad is the President!"

And had everyone laughing again.

Eyes turned toward him. Leon lifted a foot and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning. He managed to look charmingly sheepish as he drawled, "...not exactly." And had all those eyes adoring him with humor.

From where she sat, Jill figured most of the eyes on him were female. Who could blame them? He was a walking advertisement for sex.

Coughing, the teacher encouraged Ben to continue. "Oh, sorry. Um…I am Abraham Linkens…the sixtieth president of the United States of 'Merica."

Loving him, Leon moved quietly down the dark aisle looking for Jill. He finally spotted her blonde hair mid way down the fifth row. Excusing himself, he eased through excited parents and took his spot beside her.

The women he passed by could have given him more room. Easily.

And not a single one bothered.

It made Jill smirk a little.

She rolled her eyes to him, brows lifted.

The judgment on her face was legendary.

He said, "I know. I know. In my defense, traffic on DuPont Circle sucks shit."

A parent in the next row cleared their throat and gave him the stink eye. Naturally. You couldn't say shit at a kindergarten play. Leon said, sheepishly, "Apologies, darlin." And he winked at the offended mother.

The soccer Mom blushed and coughed to cover it. Her pretty round face was pink. Her husband beside her was less amused.

Jill said, amused, "Leave her be before she creams all over her seat."

Leon chuckled and rolled his head back to look at Jill. She was glowing. The red dress she wore had blue flowers stenciled on it. It tied prettily beneath her beautiful, tasty, wonderful bosom in a neat little bow. He wanted to pull the bow and free the breasts.

But you couldn't do THAT at a kindergarten play either.

Leon whispered, "You ok? I'm sorry I'm late. The mass amount of paperwork involved is trying to murder me. Remind me the next time I decide to overhaul my department and try to take some time off, I need to start like fifty years before I actually need that time off."

Jill shifted her eyes to his face. And she couldn't stop it. She could never stop it. She just dealt with it. Like being in love with a man that drew female attention like flies to shit…you made your peace with the urge to touch him.

She cupped the side of his face and pulled him down to kiss him.

She couldn't stop that part. She could, however, mostly resist the urge to stick her tongue in his mouth. Mostly.

She covered up the need of that by sliding her hand over his thigh and brushing her fingers down the smooth inside line of his suit pants. Good linen, it let her brush the backs of her fingers over his groin and felt like silk.

Adorable thing that he was, he actually jumped a little in his seat. And he was smirking as he leaned back. "You can't grope me at our son's play, wife. That is not in the best interest of the fore-fathers."

Jill grinned a little, crazy about him. "Is it in the best interest of Ben's father?"

He seemed to consider the answer. "Survey says yes."

Jill shifted her hand and he twined their fingers together. He lifted their hands and kissed hers. Public affection never bothered him. He was all for it. It was another thing she loved about him. Chris had, always, been a man who flinched away when she touched him around others.

She whispered, "You can't come packing to a kid's play, Leon Kennedy."

He blinked. And he realized she was right. He still had his gun strapped to his thigh.

Well...shit and double shit. Apparently, transitioning from bad ass warrior to bad ass father was happening slowly.

He winced a little. "...sorry. Sheesh. I might be hopeless here."

She tilted her head at him. She was aware of the eyes on them. Well, on him. The single mom's in Ben's class were constantly sniffing around like vultures waiting to pick the bones of their marriage if it went south.

It never made her mad. It made her thrilled. Let them try all they wanted, she mused, this guy? All hers.

Jill said, "You work out the time off?"

"I did. Finally." Leon shifted now and turned in his seat a little more toward her. His fingers lifted and poked an errant curl behind her ear. She turned her face to kiss his palm. "Gonna be a busy week. You ready for it?"

And the lights came up in the theater as the play drew to a close.

People started talking and rising. Jill answered him, "Am I ready to finalize the adoption? I'm more than ready. It's official as of tomorrow, we're Ben's parents."

And nothing had ever felt better. Nothing. Ever.

And then Jill rose from her seat and Ben came barreling down the aisle toward him. Leon stepped out and picked him up, tossing him while he giggled.

He wore a dove gray suit with no jacket. The pale blue shirt and powder blue tie complimented his skin and befriended the Ferragamo loafers he wore like some men wore Wranglers. Ben giggled and clung like a burr. "I missed you...Dad. I been waiting and waiting. Kyle's Dad got here early. He's a trashcan man. What's a trashcan man? Like Oscar the Grouch?"

Leon snorted a little. "Possibly. You wish I was a trashcan man?"

Ben considered this. "Maybe no."

"Why not?"

"Then you'd be the smelliest, Dad. I can't hab a smelly, Dad. All the kids would laugh at me. But is it ok if I get smelly sometimes?"

Leon chuckled and kissed him behind his ear. "That's probably ok. Depending on the why."

Ben giggled and clung to him. "Sometimes I farts after lunch. I can't help it."

Leon gave him a serious face, "...wanna know a secret?"

Ben nodded, looking wise and Leon added, "...me too, kid." This caused the boy to giggle and reply, "Know what?"

Leon tilted his head, grinning. "What?"

"I'm p'etty glad you're my Dad now."

Jesus.

Would he ever get tired of hearing that?

Objectively, no. He had to clear his throat twice to answer though. Not exactly his manliest moment, but maybe his most honest.

Gruffly, Leon intoned, "Know what? I'm pretty glad I'm your Dad too, pal. You think we can make it forever?"

"I think maybe that's ok...if you get me a sheeping dog."

And now Leon laughed. He laughed. And held him close.

"Deal."

Nothing had ever felt better than standing here with his wife and his son. No zombies. No blood. No conspiracies. Just a little beard and a big hat and a hug.

Nothing better in the world.

And then Jill turned, finished talking to one of the other mom's and turned, and her big belly got there first.

Oh yeah, he mused, a little beard, a big hat, a hug, and a big belly with a baby in it.

She'd said, _I can't have children_. That first day. That first day in the hotel. She'd said she couldn't conceive.

Yup. He'd made a liar out of her.

Time line wise – he was pretty sure he knocked her up the first time he touched her. Why not? He was virile. He was clearly a stud. He clearly was a bigger stud than Redfield. He'd filled her up and knocked her up in one shot.

Leon muttered, "Boom goes the dynamite."

And mentally high fived himself.

Jill waddled a little toward him. She said, "You two studs ready to blow this joint? The fat fetus in my belly says it needs chicken wings. Or pizza. Or potentially ice cream. Maybe all three. And maybe with pickles and Pepsi."

Leon lifted a brow, "Together? In a dog pile?" He rubbed her belly and felt the baby in there kick him for it. Jesus. It never failed to thrill him.

"Possibly." She chuckled and looped her arm around his waist as he hoisted Ben up on his shoulders. She tucked her hand into his back pocket and grabbed his ass. He pursed his lips and considered this.

"The fetus needs sustenance….what does the incubator need?" They were in the parking lot now. Late spring was lovely. Dogwood trees dropped pretty white petals around them.

He hit the release on his keys. And something was moving in his car.

Jill blinked. She blinked and grabbed his hand, "...what did you DO, Mr. Kennedy?"

"Kept a promise."

Ben opened the back door...and let out a giggle and a squeal so loud that people stopped to see what had happened.

Because a big fat shaggy white and brown lump was leaping all around the back seat over the boy that laughed and squeezed it.

Jill whispered, teary eyed, "You got him a sheeping dog."

"...it would appear that is what happened, yes."

"You were late because you were picking up a puppy for your son."

"...survey says yes."

He buckled Ben into his seat with the leaping puppy and came around the car to open the door for Jill.

He rubbed her belly again, watching her face. What was on it? She was looking at him like he might taste like pie. Or give her an adrenaline shot in the chest. "So, wife, what does the incubator need?"

She gripped two handfuls of his vest and tugged him down to her. "Haven't you figured that part out yet? This incubator needs Leon Kennedy. So how about we go home and both think about your face for a change."

"An interesting statement. Why are we both thinking about my face?"

"Because the incubator wants to practice breastfeeding. I need a willing participant to demonstrate the functional ramifications of the action... You wanna be my test subject?"

Was there a man alive who would say no to that?

He shifted a hand to cup one of those perfect breasts and watched the excitement shoot across her beautiful face.

Maybe there was. Maybe there was such a man. Maybe.

But then again, that man had never been in love with Jill Valentine.

And the one that dropped his mouth to kiss her?

Well, he'd been looking for her all his life.


End file.
